Carved into extinction

The elephant ivory trade is one of the most well known environmental issues and many charities, organisations and governments have been working together to stop this vile practice. But despite worldwide condemnation the practice is still going on.

One of the reasons the ivory trade has managed to survive is the obsession of carved ivory in some asian countries, most notably china. Carved ivory is a piece of ivory which has been carved by experts craftsman to depict scenes of nature or complex patterns, Carved ivory is prized because it seen as a status symbol a sign that the owner is rich or powerful.

But the elephant is not the only animal that has been affected by the carved ivory industry, it has recently come to public attention that a tropical bird known as the Helmeted hornbill has also been a casualty of this cruel industry.

The Helmeted hornbill is found in a few countries including Indonesia, Borneo and Thailand, the most notable feature of this bird is its namesake Helmet and it is this feature that is putting the Hornbill in the sights of poachers. The Helmets are made of Keratin, a protein which is also found in Rhino horn but also in your hair and fingernails, the Helmet of the Helmeted Hornbill is unique due to its red colouration. This unique color makes the Ivory from these birds very valuable to buyers on the black market and has earned it the name “Red Ivory”.

The practice of carving from Red ivory isn't a recent development, Natives to the area have been carving ornamental pieces from these helmets for over 2000 years but in recent years the population of these birds has been dropping at a worrying rate. The IUCN red list (a comprehensive list of animals on earth and their conservation status e.g. endangered or least concerned) had listed the Helmeted Hornbill as near threatened in 2012 but since then this species has down down three levels to Critically endangered, other animals which share this level include Gorillas, Leopards and the Southern blue whale, Critically endangered is only one level away from Extinct in the wild.

This Species is very vulnerable to the effects of over poaching because is is a slow breeding bird, the Helmeted Hornbill only has one breeding season a year and successful pairing only result in one or two chicks. During the Hornbills breeding season the Male of the species will use mud to seal its mate into a hole made in the side of a tree to protect it from predators or love rivals. The male will then gather food and feed its mate and chicks through a small hole in the mud wall. This practice may have helped protect this species in the past but is now become fatal, when the males, being the only ones that can be found, are killed the Female and the chicks will stare to death in the protective hole. Which means that even one dead Hornbill can cause three extra deaths.This means that with the large amount of poaching the birds are not able to replenish their population fast enough causing the sharp decline we are seeing.

Conservation organisations are calling for the same commitment shown in protecting elephants to be used in protecting this amazing bird. If you’d like to show your support or donate to help the Helmeted Hornbill then please use the links below.

https://indonesia.wcs.org/Wildlife/Helmeted-Hornbill.aspx

https://www.actionforthewild.org/projects/current-projects/item/152-hornbill-research-foundation

If you are interested in conservation and would like to read more then check out my recent posts on vulture conservation or Olivers post on extinct british species.