Fruit Hunters.
We all understand the importance of forests. But human race is burying the forests in the name of civilization and development.
Nature has its own medicine to deal with such situations and circumstances to bring balance to ecosystem.
Although nature has solutions for each and every problem, sometimes animals takes responsibility to save the nature from complete destruction. The seed dispersal method increases the population of trees converting a barren land to lush green forests.
Hornbills efficiently helps the mother nature in seed dispersal and are rightly termed as "Farmers of the forests". A wonderful dependency can be seen between the hornbills and the forests.
Hornbills need fruit bearing trees since their main diet are fruits. Fig trees are on top of the list and the forests of Dandeli has different types of Ficus or fig trees.
This could perhaps be the main reason why Dandeli-Anshi region has lot of Hornbills as compared to other parts of the western ghats.
All 4 types of Hornbills can be found in and around Dandeli. The Indian Grey Hornbill. malabar grey hornbill, Pied hornbill and the great Pied Hornbill. Each have their own way of lifestyle but one thing is generally common between them--food. They are voracious fruit eaters and can feed on as many as 30 trees on daily basis. With that, one can imagine how important it is to save the forests.
Save forests to save hornbills..!
The reason behind this continuous diet of a hornbill is to cater to its own family. A male hornbill collects as much food as possible and return to the tree top where a female hornbill would have built a nest to breed. By shedding her feathers completely to an extent of becoming flightless, the female hornbill secures the nest and the chicks from the predators. A male hornbill typically makes several trips to the nesting area to provide nutrition to its partner and chicks.
The way hornbills pick a fruiting tree and enjoys the food is really interesting to know. In a span of 3 days I observed the way Great Pied Hornbills and other species of Hornbills feast on the fruiting trees. They have their own style of doing it.
It appeared as if a leading hornbill scouts the area for fresh fruiting trees and the rest follows the leader for a much awaited feast..! Especially, the great pied hornbill which are generally shy in nature, wouldnt like humans to be around when its hogging on fruits. It appreciates silence.
Upon selecting the tree, it goes to the clutter and starts swallowing the figs one by one. During this process it doesnt hesitate to bend itself to any angle to pluck the fruit. It tosses the fruit in air mischievously and gulps it in one go...!
A Pied Hornbill has a slightly different way to feed on fruits. It barges itself into a fruiting tree in numbers and ensures no space left for any other animals such as monkeys or squirrels for food. The flock of Hornbills on a fruiting tree that I witnessed was about 80-100. They arrive in batches. hog on fruits together and depart in batches.
Grey Hornbills are generally social and wouldnt mind anyone around it during a meal. Relatively smaller in size, malabar grey hornbill and Indian grey hornbills aim at small sized ficus fruits to munch on easily.
Now, most of the fruits that they feed-on might not be suitable to them with regards to taste, size etc. The birds cannot digest the seed of the fruit and it discards it before or after the meal. These seeds gets scattered on the ground and becomes a fruit bearing tree at certain point of time.
This is the reason hornbills are rightly termed as "Farmers of the forests". It is quite evident that Dandeli region has too many ficus trees because of the Hornbills and that's how it should be. A threat to a ficus tree can be considered fatal for all the living forms that rely on it for food. So lets protect the trees as much as we can.
Nature has its own medicine to deal with such situations and circumstances to bring balance to ecosystem.
Although nature has solutions for each and every problem, sometimes animals takes responsibility to save the nature from complete destruction. The seed dispersal method increases the population of trees converting a barren land to lush green forests.
Hornbills efficiently helps the mother nature in seed dispersal and are rightly termed as "Farmers of the forests". A wonderful dependency can be seen between the hornbills and the forests.
Hornbills need fruit bearing trees since their main diet are fruits. Fig trees are on top of the list and the forests of Dandeli has different types of Ficus or fig trees.
This could perhaps be the main reason why Dandeli-Anshi region has lot of Hornbills as compared to other parts of the western ghats.
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| The Great Pied Hornbill on a ficus tree. |
Save forests to save hornbills..!
 |
| A Great Pied Hornbill carefully selects a ficus tree which has good amount of fruits in it. |
The way hornbills pick a fruiting tree and enjoys the food is really interesting to know. In a span of 3 days I observed the way Great Pied Hornbills and other species of Hornbills feast on the fruiting trees. They have their own style of doing it.
It appeared as if a leading hornbill scouts the area for fresh fruiting trees and the rest follows the leader for a much awaited feast..! Especially, the great pied hornbill which are generally shy in nature, wouldnt like humans to be around when its hogging on fruits. It appreciates silence.
Upon selecting the tree, it goes to the clutter and starts swallowing the figs one by one. During this process it doesnt hesitate to bend itself to any angle to pluck the fruit. It tosses the fruit in air mischievously and gulps it in one go...!
 |
| The acrobats of a Great Pied Hornbill to feed on fruit. |
A Pied Hornbill has a slightly different way to feed on fruits. It barges itself into a fruiting tree in numbers and ensures no space left for any other animals such as monkeys or squirrels for food. The flock of Hornbills on a fruiting tree that I witnessed was about 80-100. They arrive in batches. hog on fruits together and depart in batches.
 |
| Malabar Pied Hornbill. |
Grey Hornbills are generally social and wouldnt mind anyone around it during a meal. Relatively smaller in size, malabar grey hornbill and Indian grey hornbills aim at small sized ficus fruits to munch on easily.
 |
| Malabar Grey Hornbill. |
Now, most of the fruits that they feed-on might not be suitable to them with regards to taste, size etc. The birds cannot digest the seed of the fruit and it discards it before or after the meal. These seeds gets scattered on the ground and becomes a fruit bearing tree at certain point of time.
This is the reason hornbills are rightly termed as "Farmers of the forests". It is quite evident that Dandeli region has too many ficus trees because of the Hornbills and that's how it should be. A threat to a ficus tree can be considered fatal for all the living forms that rely on it for food. So lets protect the trees as much as we can.
Excellent frames and narrations.
ReplyDeleteSuperb photos and documentation.
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