๐ ด๐ ฝ๐ ณ๐ ฐ๐ ฝ๐ ถ๐ ด๐๐ ด๐ ณ: Ground Hornbill - Please spread the message (Original photos and thoughts)
Only 1500 Ground Hornbills left in South Africa!
(Photo taken by me near Lower Sabi in South Africa with Canon SX50HS)
This bird, which is under the 'Vulenrable (for extinction)' category throughout Africa but due to the rapid decline in their numbers in South Africa, it has been declared as 'endangered' in South Africa.
Diminishing habitat, due to rapid urbanization and farming is the main cause of their diminishing numbers
Though there are a number of conservation initiatives for supporting the Ground Hornbill, the results obtained by the projects vary widely. This is because of couple of reasons. Ground Hornbill reproduction cycle is very irregular. Typically, in a group of up to 11 members, there is only one mating pair. Further, the Ground Hornbills only lay 2 eggs. One of the eggs hatches earlier and the chick in the first egg to hatch is stronger and heavier than the one hatching later. Since 'survival of the fittest' is the rule of the jungle', the first born chick, due to it's strength and size, dominates the food supply. As a result, very often, the second chick dies soon! Most of the conservation efforts center around taking the second egg and trying to raise the second chick.
We need to spread the message about protecting the habitat of these prehistoric looking birds. We do not want our grand children to see one more species only in the books do we?
Let us do our bit Steemians - If nothing else, please help in enhancing awareness about the need to protect the Ground Hornbill habitat.
๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ช๐ผ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ต๐น ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ผ๐น๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ป ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐ฒ๐ญ๐ฎ - ๐ช๐ฌ๐ป๐ธ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ธ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ช๐ต ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ช
Please feel free to check my other recent posts on my Africa experience:
Bathing Beauties: Save water Elephant style
Dueling Duo: How Impalas manage conflict..
PhotoSpeak #1: Man vs. Nature...
Photospeak #2: African landscape...
PhotoSpeak #3: On the Road...๐
Great photo! That's amazing to get one of an endangered species like that.
I've thought a bit about the mass extinction we're currently experiencing. It's seriously concerning, but part of me also wonders if some species just simply can't hack it in the world today. Should we try to save every species, even those which may have gone extinct without us around? So many species have gone extinct (most of them, in fact) and many long before we were here. I wonder too, if in the future, we can easily clone extinct species and bring them back to life. Should we? Do we have an obligation to do so on some level or maybe just for those we directly caused the extinction of? Even that isn't an easy thing to nail down.
Thank you for the appreciation of the photo and the thought provoking comment. To me, in line with Darwin's theory, extinction is a natural phenomenon based on 'Survival of the fittest'. So, the species which could adopt to changing environments survived when we had no part to play in it. Bringing the other ones back does not, therefore, make sense to me. I am in a dilemma though on the species which have become or are becoming extinct because of our encroachment on their habitat. I believe that we need to be more conscious and avoid such negative impacts on their environment. However, in a discussion offline today with @the.wild.eye, he made a point that humans, being a species ourselves, are also a part of the whole natural process when it comes to the environment which other species have to face. Therefore, perhaps your point about species need to hack it and survive in today's environment may be valid to some extent. @the.wild.eye also quoted a valid reference of the white moth/black moth classic scenario that has been observed where, after industrialization, the darker mutated moths survived better because they could blend in with soot darkened trees after industrialization. White moths got eaten more by birds because they were more easily spotted due to contrast. Today, even if we were to bring the white moths back, they would still be eaten by birds faster than the black mutated moths.
The only thing I can determine is, it takes a long time for species to adopt. Therefore, I will still support the position that we need to spread the message about conserving the natural habitats so that they can at least survive till they adopt. Does that make sense?
Thanks for spreading this message @vm2904, I just hope it does not go extinct as so many have before!
I have never seen this one, thanks for sharing!
Cheers
@progressivechef
This is a really amazing bird! Not only can man make this bird so rare, but also the earthly climate change, which is of a cosmic origin.
I was so lucky that I saw this bird in Kruger and I have some photos.
@valtr - I am happy that you also got to see it and take some photographs. Out of the many times I have been to Kruger, I got to see it only twice though Kruger hosts about half the population,apparently, of all Ground Hornbills in South Africa. Thanks for stopping by and for your support.
Good move by South Africans. It time we to make stringent wild life policies to protect our ecosystem.
@ebohio2008 - So true. I hope we can do our tiny bit by at least spreading awareness via social media and other interactions. Thanks for taking time to see my blogs and your support.
It looks like an ugly mean bird but beautiful in its own. Sad to see so many diminishing creatures.
Thanks for visiting the blog and showing support. Yes they are a bit ugly and prehistoric looking but every creature has it's own beauty as you point out correctly. Thanks
Great photography, thanks for posting your journey! @vm2904
Great post and I enjoyed these pictures! @vm2904
It is really scary there are so few left. ๐ฃ
True. It is a shame that humanities 'progress' effectively makes some wild creatures 'extinct'. If you like, please resteem the message and also publish on other social media - Awareness is the key to resolving the issue I think.
Aww! SO sad that we could end up losing beautiful animals like this! I hope we start to use less of the environment. Animals have just as many rights to exist as we do.
Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog and your support. True. We could use less of their environment. At least till they adopt to the current environment dominated by man.