GROUND-HORNBILLS Bucorvidae
Ground-Hornbills are huge prehistoric appearing birds of open grasslands and savanna in sub-Saharan Africa. Watching a family group of Southern Ground-Hornbill (left and below) scavenge at roadside in a Tanzania reserve (left) or in Kruger Natíl Park, South Africa (below), is a highlight of any visit. If you have any doubt that birds are descended from dinosaurs, check out a young ground-hornbill and become a believer!
Traditionally, the Ground-Hornbills are considered just a subfamily or less of the typical Hornbills Bucerotidae. However, unlike all other hornbills, ground-hornbills do not seal the female inside a nest cavity, they walk instead of hop, they lack a carotid artery (unique among all birds), and they have 15 instead of 14 neck vertebrae (Kemp 1995). Even Alan Kemp himself appears to have changed his mind recently about family status for these birds. The Birds of Africa series followed Kemp & Crowe (1985) by including them within the Bucerotidae but Kemp (1995), referring to a cladistic figure derived from his prior work, stated that the “two species of Bucorvus emerge as the earliest surviving offshoot within the order, sufficiently distinct and long separated to be placed in their own family, the Bucorvidae. They were already evident as a mid-Miocene fossil from Morocco some 15 million years ago.” The decision to separate the Ground-Hornbills into a separate family makes eminent sense to me (from a field ornithologists’ perspective) because of the profound behavioral differences between them and the mostly tree-loving “typical” hornbills.
There are two species of ground-hornbill. The Southern Ground-Hornbill (head detail, above) ranges widely through east and south Africa. The Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill (right) exists in the arid sahel region on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, east to Uganda (where this pair was blocking our route). Note the blue neck and eye wattle on the front left bird (a female) that separate it easy from the red-wattled southern species (above). Male Abyssinian has a blue eye wattle but red neck wattle.

These neck wattles can be inflated and are used to make booming or grunting sounds, often just before dawn. That of Southern Ground-Hornbill can be called "lion-like," while the higher-pitched call of Abyssinian recalls the grunt of a leopard.
Both species of ground-hornbill spend much of the day foraging on the ground for lizards, snakes, and a wide variety of live prey, plus fruits. They are thus omnivorous. They nest in crevices, but the female is not sealed-in like the typical hornbills.

Photos: The Southern Ground-Hornbill Bucorvus leadbetteri (top left) was photographed as it stalked through Tarangire Nat'l Park, Tanzania, in Aug 2002. Close-ups of the youngster and adult head were taken from our rented car in Kruger Nat'l Park, South Africa, in July 1996. The pair of Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill B. abyssinicus were blocking the road to Murchison Falls Nat'l Park, Uganda, in July 2002. All photos © 2003 Don Roberson.

Bibliographic essay

Family book: IIII rating (out of 5 possible)
Kemp, A. C. 1995. The Hornbills. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.

Written by one of the world’s authorities on this family, this is a strong addition to Oxford’s “Bird Families of the World” series. It covers both the typical Hornbills Bucerotidae and the Ground-Hornbills Bucorvidae. It appears to be authoritative on breeding biology & behavior (with lots of good line drawings). Taxonomic decisions appear quite reasonable (54 species) and I appreciate the detailed biometric tables. The plates by Martin Woodcock are quite good but in “field guide” style without background (except some branches for some to sit on). The plates are grouped together near the front opposite facing text highlighting i.d. points and ranges. Species accounts and range maps contained no errors obvious to me. Highly recommended.
Literature cited:
Kemp, A.C., and T.M. Crowe. 1985. The systematics and zoogeography of Afrotropical hornbills in Proceeding of the International Symposium on African Vertebrates (K. L. Schuschmann, ed.), pp. 279-324. Zoologische Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn.
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Page created 10 Feb 1999, revised 1 Mar 2003