Mysterious rhinoceros birds come out of their winter home in Kyiv Zoo

The incredible Abyssinian Kromkachi (rhinoceros birds) from Kharkiv region are leaving their winter home for their summer playground in Kyiv Zoo. The institution shared the details on Facebook.

The specialists of the Kyiv Zoo carefully arranged a natural space for them: wooden trunks and stumps, green bushes and vines, steppe soil and grassy vegetation. Everything that creates a cosy and comfortable atmosphere for the birds.

For natural enrichment and daily fun, we have prepared termites and rotten logs with hiding places for special delicacies: mealworms, zoophobes, slugs and other bird treats.

‘Visit the lower park of KyivZoo to meet these incredible birds!’ the institution called.

Abyssinian kromkachi – where rhinoceros birds live

Rhinoceros birds live in the tropics of Asia and Africa. There are more than 50 species of them. Four species are currently endangered and listed in CITES Appendix I, and another 24 species are listed in Appendix II.

Horned birds have been assigned to the order Coraciiformes, by some authors to the order Upupiformes or to the monotypic order Bucerotiformes. Today, the Upupidae and Phoeniculidae are also included in this order, and the Bucorvus, which were previously included in the Upupidae, have been given the rank of a family, so that the Bucerotiformes now consist of four families.

All bird species are omnivores. The proportion and importance of animal and plant foods in the diet of a particular species varies from species to species.

All birds are nesting birds. They use either natural tree hollows or (less commonly) rock cavities. The entrance to the nest cavity is sealed by the breeding female, except for a narrow slit. Different species use different materials. In some species of rhinoceros birds, the male brings the material used by the female. Depending on the species, females spend up to four months in the breeding den.

The body length of birds reaches from 30 to 120 centimetres. Among the smallest is the dwarf rhinoceros, which is slightly smaller than a pigeon. The weight of these birds ranges from 111 grams to a little over three kilograms, depending on the size. Males are always slightly larger than females.

There are bare, brightly coloured areas of skin on the head and neck. All species exhibit a threatening behaviour in which the beak is raised to reveal a non-feathered and often contrastingly coloured throat patch. Other characteristics include an elongated body, long neck and short and broad wings. The long tail has ten tail feathers.

Horned species are almost equally distributed in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and are completely absent in the New World, where their role is fulfilled to some extent by toucans The island of Borneo is one of the regions where a particularly large number of different species of horned animals live.

Some species have very large ranges. This includes, for example, the eastern hornbill, which occurs in two subspecies from the foothills of the Indian Himalayas through Nepal and southern China to Indonesia. Some African tokos, such as the grey toko or the shrike, also have very large ranges. There are also a number of species with very small ranges.

Their habitat ranges from the dry savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa to the humid, evergreen rainforests of Asia. Of all the bird species, the Monteiro’s bird, which lives in western sub-Saharan Africa, colonises the area with the lowest rainfall. Savannah birds make up only a quarter of all rhino species. Of these, only the Indian rhinoceros lives in Asia, while most savannah rhinos are African species.

A long beak, a long, highly manoeuvrable neck and strong, webbed feet allow rhino birds to use a wide range of foods. The upper and lower ends of the beak meet only at the tip, so that the beak can be used by penguins as tweezers. In this way, penguins are able to grab objects with great dexterity. They then throw the food into their mouths by tossing it upwards, often crushing it with their beak sheaths. Their long beak and dexterity in its use also allow them to eat poisonous animals such as scorpions.

In April, incredible pink phoenixes also returned to Kyiv.