Friday, February 5, 2010

Chomp chomp...well, not really...

The diets of the various hornbills are incredibly diverse. While many are frugivorous, which basically means that they eat fruits, they usually supplement their diet with, often, small animals like insects. Some like the ground hornbills, though, have a mostly animal-based diet. They are known to feed on reptiles, frogs, insects and even small mammals.

The Oriental Pied

The Oriental Pied hornbills are mostly frugivorous birds, though they eat insects as well as small vertebrates from time to time. Fruits commonly eaten by these birds include figs, drupes, papaya, Corypha utan palm fruits, oil palm fruits, rambutan, fruits of the MacAurthur palm and figs. Animal prey taken by these birds include fish, insects, nestlings, bats, and small reptiles and amphibians.

Naturally, in consuming large amounts of fruit, these birds play a very important role in seed dispersal. A number of the fruits they consume are relatively large, and may contain large seeds. Smaller birds are thus unable to aid in the dispersal of these seeds and this important task then passes on to the Oriental Pied :)

Reference
Kemp, A. (1995). The Hornbills. United States: Oxford University Press Inc., New York.

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