Dallas Zoo welcomes southern ground hornbill in first successful foster of species
One recent afternoon at the Dallas Zoo, a large, long-beaked bird eagerly snatched a worm from a caretaker’s hand.
But Okpara, the 18-year-old father of a Southern Ground-Nose family, didn’t keep the delicacy to herself.
He went to the back of his habitat and offered it to Nanjamba, the 32-year-old mother of the group, and when she didn’t take it, he gave it to 3-month-old Kune, the family’s baby.
Kune, a southern ground hornbill that hatched 3 months ago, rests on a branch that he will share with a sibling Mosi (4) and the family group at the Dallas Zoo on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. (Tom Fox / employee photographer)
As he shared the treat, the large red pouch at his throat puffed up and he grunted at the four birds he was feeding.
“Dad is like the guard and enforcer for the family group,” said Ann Knutson, assistant zoo director for birds.
Unlike other birds, southern ground hornbills live in family units and have strong bonds and dynamic relationships.
When Kune first hatched, the Dallas Zoo’s hornbill family grew to five, but the connections between its members are unique
Successful care
Okpara and another bird, Nanjamba, raise Kune as their own, but Nanjamba did not lay him as an egg.
Kune (pronounced koon-aye) is the first southern ground hornbill chick among zoos to be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and successfully transported from another facility to be cared for by another family group, said Knutson, who as coordinator of the Southern Hornbill Survival Plan drawn up by the Association.
She is responsible for monitoring the populations of the southern ground hornbill in all zoos accredited by the association and gives breeding recommendations for the expansion of the species, which are declining in their natural habitat in southern Africa. 52 of the approximately 250 zoos accredited by the association have southern ground hornbill populations.
Although Okpara and Nanjamba are no longer recommended for breeding, another pair of hornbills were at the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee. When they laid their egg, Knutson agreed to take it to the Dallas Zoo.
Though she’d agreed with the Knoxville Zoo and the airlines well in advance, moving the egg, roughly twice its size, in a portable incubator was stressful.
“When I went through security, there was no x-ray, so I had to open it and show them it was an egg,” she said. “The place where the flight attendants put their coats and things was literally just big enough for my incubator to fit in.”
Ann Knutson, assistant zoological director for birds, examines Kune, a southern ground hornbill that hatched 3 months ago and lives with his family group, including 4-year-old Mosi (right), at the Dallas Zoo on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 . Knutson flew the egg here to Dallas and has been looking after the South African bird ever since. The zoo has a family of 4 hornbills and has raised 6 chicks behind the scenes since 2017. (Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News)(Tom Fox / employee photographer)
As the first zoo within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to attempt egg transport and care, Knutson was nervous.
“Anything can go wrong, such as a flight delay or the incubator breaking arbitrarily,” she said.
But Kune hatched safely two days after arriving in Dallas.
Usually the mother would feed the chick, but Nanjamba came to the zoo in 2015 with a broken beak so she couldn’t.
The keepers started hand-feeding Kune seven times a day but slowly stopped.
“The nice thing about it is that they still teach the baby to become a hornbill even though we have to hand-feed it,” Knutson said.
When southern ground hornbills are raised exclusively by humans, they can “memorize” their caregivers – create a bond with humans that makes it difficult for them to communicate with their own species. This could make it difficult for Knutson to arrange breeding opportunities in the future.
“They’ll be fine for the first few years,” she said. “But once the breeding age is reached, which is around 10 to 13 years old, embossed hornbills tend to have problems.”
At only a few months, Kune is easy to spot among the hornbill group.
He’s a little shorter than his family members, who are about three feet tall, and the pouch on his neck hasn’t turned bright red yet. That will happen when he reaches adulthood, and although adult hornbills are white in color beneath their nearly four feet long wingspan, Kune’s feathers are still black.
Kune’s siblings adapt to a new family structure. Four-year-old Pili did well with Kune’s arrival, but another brother, also 4, didn’t take it well for the new baby to get all the attention, Knutson said.
“Mosi was really jealous of the baby and behaved like a young child would be expected,” Knutson said.
Most of his dealings with janitors and his parents were attention grabbing.
Knutson warns new visitors not to remove any items dangling from their clothing or bags before entering the habitat.
“He became that thief. He’s going to come and pull things out of my pockets without me feeling anything and then he’ll come around the front and just show me, like, ‘Look what I have,’ ”she said.
Okpara (right) and Mosi are southern hornbills who live with their family group at the Dallas Zoo on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. The zoo has a family of 4 hornbills and has raised 6 chicks behind the scenes since 2017. (Tom Fox / Dallas Morning News)(Tom Fox / employee photographer)
A strong family association
Although the unique family relationships of the southern hornbills have advantages, the dynamism poses challenges for caretakers.
Since the father Okpara feeds his family – which he still does with his two other sons, who are old enough to eat on their own – it can be difficult for the keepers to provide medical care to the birds.
About a year ago, one of Pili’s toenails fell off, causing him discomfort that required an amputation of his toe.
Separating him from his family for the five-hour operation made Knutson nervous, because even a short interval can damage the birds’ bonds.
Pili had to be sutured and given medication after surgery, but the strong connections between the birds made it difficult to ensure care.
Kune, a southern ground hornbill that hatched 3 months ago, has feather eyelashes around its blue eyes. The young bird lives with his family group at the Dallas Zoo, Wednesday, September 22, 2021. The deputy zoological bird manager Ann Knutson flew the egg here to Dallas and has been looking after the South African bird since then. The zoo has a family of 4 hornbills and has raised 6 chicks behind the scenes since 2017. (Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News) (Tom Fox / employee photographer)
“If we try to feed Pili, papa could run to him and take it from him and feed it to Mosi, or Pili could come up and feed the chick,” she said. “You have to turn them off to do anything, but we can’t turn them off because it would break your connection.”
The carers were lucky enough to be able to carry out the treatment without any major problems.
But a year earlier, they faced an even greater challenge when Nanjamba developed a cataract and had to undergo surgery so she could see again. As part of her convalescence, she had to be removed from the group for a month.
“We have them inside in a stable next to … [the habitat]. They couldn’t see her, but they could talk to her anyway, ”said Knutson. “She had vocal access for at least a week, but you could tell they were talking through the wall. The family group would just sit inside by the wall; it was really cute. And then she had a picture with her for the past three weeks, so they all sat there and passed her tiny bits of food through the fence. “
Although Nanjamba has fully recovered, the rest of the group are still regularly checking her, showing her around the habitat and making sure she is fed, Knutson said.
“She is very well looked after,” she says.
A standard for the expansion of the hornbill
The hornbills used to be housed in the zoo’s cheetah habitat, but were taken behind the scenes after the cheetahs arrived in the summer.
“I want them to be visible to the public in their habitat because I think the public just doesn’t know about them,” Knutson said, adding that their unique family relationships are fun for visitors to watch.
Kune could one day be transferred to another facility for breeding, but he’ll be staying at the Dallas Zoo for at least five years – enough time to learn how to live with a family, Knutson said.
The zoo previously had seven hornbills, but two of the males were sent to another location for breeding. Knutson said she wanted to expand the group back to seven, but male chicks will be needed as only one female can live in a family unit.
Moni, a southern ground hornbill, pecks at his wing in his enclosure at the Dallas Zoo on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. The zoo has a family of 4 hornbills and has raised 6 chicks behind the scenes since 2017. (Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News) (Tom Fox / employee photographer)
Knutson said she is excited to share the success of Dallas Zoo with other zoos to show that it is possible to increase their populations in unusual ways.
“I’m really excited about that because then, by sharing the story, people would see, ‘Oh, we can do this,'” she said.
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