Fitz Research: Ground Hornbill Research and Conservation Programme

The Southern Ground-Hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri is a conservation icon of South African savannas. During the 20th Century its range and population size in South Africa decreased by some two thirds, with the birds disappearing from much of their historical range. Such a rapid decrease in the population of a long-lived, slow-reproducing animal is of great conservation concern and, based on IUCN criteria, the official conservation status of Southern Ground-Hornbills in South Africa has been elevated from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered. In many cases, however, the drivers of local extinctions are known, and in some instances these are no longer operative. Because of the ground-hornbills’ complex social structure, self-reintroduction would, at best, be very slow. This means that reintroduction programmes are probably imperative to improve the species’ precarious conservation status.

Given this set of circumstances, the Fitztitute’s Southern Ground-Hornbill Research Programme aims to gain a scientific understanding of the environmental conditions which promote the survival and successful reproduction of these birds. We will use this knowledge to identify areas previously occupied by ground-hornbills that are now suitable for their reintroduction. We will then provide scientific information to guide reintroduction programmes such that their efficiency and efficacy are optimized. The ultimate aim of these studies of habitat use patterns by ground-hornbills with different lifetime reproductive outputs is therefore to optimise sites and protocols for reintroduction programmes.

In 2000, the Institute started monitoring groups of ground-hornbills in the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR), a 180 000 ha conservancy adjacent to Kruger National Park. The original rationale for this study was an exploration of social behaviour in the world’s largest cooperatively breeding bird. However, on the basis of this 8-year data set (from 23 groups) we were able to identify environmental and social correlates of breeding performance. This analysis allowed the project to enter a strongly conservation-orientated phase. An interesting finding was that habitat configuration strongly influenced breeding success, demanding that we investigate how the groups use their very large (up to 100 km2) home ranges. To do this we are using solar-powered satellite transmitters on groups in the APNR. We have also teamed up with the Ground-Hornbill Reintroduction Programme based to the west of the APNR at Mabula Game Reserve to study a habituated, but wild-living group of ground-hornbills with the aim of determining how much information is lost by having satellite fixes from the APNR at hourly, rather than shorter intervals.

For more information see the following research programmes: Cooperative Breeding & Sociality in Birds and Rarity & Conservation of African Birds.