· At present Southern Ground Hornbills are considered ‘vulnerable’ but their numbers are still declining.

· There are probably only 1500 birds in South Africa—half of which are in the protected areas of the Kruger National Park.

· Groups consist of 2—9 birds, of which there is only 1 breeding female.

· From which an average of only 1 chick is raised to adulthood every 9 years.

 

Over the past 50 years Ground Hornbills have lost over 70% of their natural habitat :

· Loss of habitat due to farming/agriculture and cattle

· Indirect poisoning

· Indirect trapping and snaring

· Shooting for window breaking

· Loss of large nesting trees

· The trade in exotic birds

· Increase in Ancient cultural uses

· Electrocution on power transformer boxes

 

The Mabula Ground Hornbill Research and Conservation Project are addressing these issues by :

· Harvesting and hand-rearing of second hatched chicks which die of starvation in the nests.

· Re-introduction and augmentation of non-viable groups in the wild.

· Provision of artificial nests for wild groups without nests.

· Research on behavior and other important unanswered questions.

· Awareness Campaigns to educate the general public to :

           - The danger in which this flagship indicator species is in the Savannah biome of South Africa.

                    - Unintentional poisoning

                    - Trade in ground hornbills

                    - Secondary trapping and snaring

 

 

 

  YOU CAN HELP!

SPREAD VITAL INFORMATION

 

THAT THIS FLAGSHIP SPECIES FOR SOUTH AFRICA'S SAVANNA MUST BE SAVED FROM EXTINCTION, ALONG WITH THE OTHER SPECIES (Cheetah, wild dog,  vultures, white rhinos) IN THIS IMPORTANT BIOME.

 

SOUTH AFRICA’S TOURIST INDUSTRY RELIES ON WILDLIFE TO BRING VISITORS TO SOUTH AFRICA AND THUS BOOST TOURISM AS A WAY OF ALLEVIATING POVERTY.

 

UNLESS EFFORTS ARE MADE THESE CHARISMATIC BIRDS WILL NOT WANDER THE VELDT FOR OUR GRANDCHILDREN TO SEE AND ENJOY.

 

 

                                                         

During 2000 we started a population count of the birds in South Africa through a Public Awareness Campaign. A total of 9000 posters and 15000 pamphlets have been circulated, all with data sheets attached that have been constantly returned over the years for our data base.  From this data base a GIS Map has been developed.

 

In 2003 the Project started a series of releases of hand reared birds into the wild. One release in Marakele National Park of a group from Mabula was unsuccessful when the birds flew back after 3 months. But introducing single hand-reared juvenile to wild birds in their own territory has been found more successful at Haenertsburg, but we did take a juvenile to anchor a Project’s hand reared male with a wild lone female, whose group had been shot for window breaking. The project now works towards augmenting non-viable groups in their own territories with harvested and hand reared birds.

 

In February 2005 a Population and Habitat Viability Assessment Workshop was held to help discover the status of ground hornbills and investigate the problems, solutions and actions to stop the decline of this flagship species of the Savannah Biome. A review of this PHVA was held in May 2008. Click here to view the report.

The Percy Fitzpatrick Institute, the University of Limpopo and Rhodes University are presently researching the biology of ground hornbills, about which very little is known.

 

An on-going programme for the harvest of second chicks and hand rearing them for the wild is also in progress at Mabula, in the Limpopo Province.

 

At last, in November 2004, the first captive bred chicks in South Africa were hatched at Umgeni River Bird Park and Loskop Nature Reserve. The Ground Hornbill Action Group has been facilitating the captive breeding for three years, which has brought all parties interested in these birds together for the exchange of information and help. Seven chicks came from the captive breeding programme at Umgeni River Bird Park in  2006 and Umgeni sent 4 captive bred chicks to the Project in 2007.  Two Project juveniles are now part of the breeding programme at Hoetspruit Rehabilitation Centre at Kapama.

 

The Project sent a young pair to Shamwari in 2004 as a start to a breeding programme in the Eastern Cape. Another pair have gone to Madikwe East, one of which is a captive bred female from a hand-reared pair from Kruger National Park at Umgeni River Bird Park.

 

Captive breeding for wild release and for zoo exchanges, so as to stop the trade in wild birds and depleting the population further, is in progress in zoos in the U.S.A. and U.K.

 

A two year survey has been done in the North of the Limpopo Province, where a need has been found for additional nests to help recover the fragmented groups in this important Savannah area. Thirty nests are now in place in the Limpopo River Valley and another 30 are planned for the next two years. 

Nick Theron, research manager at the Project, is currently doing his Masters on the habitat selection and population dynamics of southern ground hornbills in the Limpopo River Valley. This also incorporates the genetic status of the species in Limpopo.

 

The data from a population count and acquisition of historical data has been put onto a comprehensive GIS map and also on the Natural World GIS map.

Over 3000 sightings over a period of 184 years have enabled the Project to analyze this data for alteration of the species status in the Red Data Book. This important data includes successful groups, those groups who have not bred recently and therefore may not have a breeding female or a nest, or their habitat may have become unsuitable because of agriculture and human intrusion.

The Project started in April 1999, when three chicks were brought to Mabula by Dr. Alan Kemp, after a previous unsuccessful release in Swaziland. 

Mabula allowed the chicks to free-roam on the reserve with a shepherd to act as parents to feed and protect the chicks.  After a successful year WWF-SA-The Green Trust became a major sponsor and the Project worked to objectives to harvest second chicks (who die of starvation in the nest) from Kruger National Park and hand rear them and release them into the group on Mabula.  Sasol Limited and the Honorary Rangers of Kruger and Marakele have also been constant sponsors of this project. The difficulties of hand rearing were overcome by Donna Sweet who was sent from San Diego Wild Animal Park and stayed for a year and a half.

 

A turning point was being given a rehabilitated wild male bird, Storm, whose group had died in a poisoning incident, and he took over the care of the group. With a shepherd the birds were becoming habituated to people and so now with a wild bird to protect them, although they were still supplement fed, we stopped continuous human contact.