Keeper Bryan MacAulay talks about the rhino hornbills he takes care of at the Phoenix Zoo!

Where to begin? This year has held many challenges, but by far the most exciting was the introduction and subsequent breeding of our rhinoceros hornbills.

For the past few years, we’ve had tremendous success with our pair of adult rhino hornbills. They have raised two healthy chicks (1 male, 1 female) that have since moved on to other institutions. What makes this pair special is that they were/are the only pair of captive born and raised rhino hornbills that have successfully laid, hatched and  raised chicks that we know of.

After the success of the second chick, it was determined that there was another male in the country that would be a better genetic match for our female.  We were reluctant to split up a compatible pair, but agreed to send our male to the El Paso zoo and receive theirs in return.  We knew it would be a setback to our breeding efforts but were pleasantly surprised when the new male proved to be an excellent parent at the tender age of 7 years!  While this male is an excellent parent, we did experience issues with his first breeding season.  The female sealed herself in the nest rather late in the year.  We aren’t entirely clear as to why, but she left the nest about one month before she should have.  When we checked the nest we found the chick to be healthy but still naked (cavity nesting birds feathers develop later than ground nesting birds).  Our concerns were allayed somewhat by the parents continuing to feed the chick as usual.  However, with the chick being too young to be in the nest alone, we found that excess diet items were accumulating in the nest and attracting ants.  Normally, the adult female would be there to keep the nest clean.  The ants presented a serious problem to the safety of the chick so we had to clean the nest ourselves and be very diligent about controlling the ant population around the nest.

When it was finally time for the chick to come out of the nest, we found that she was having a difficult time breaking through the “mud” (mixture of dried food and fecal matter used to seal the nest entrance). We assisted the chick by chiseling out a few chunks of the “mud”, this proved to be the help she needed. After a bit of a struggle to get out of the nest, she finally emerged!  Sadly, when she was coming out, the chick managed to injure the ends of both wings, which has restricted her ability to fly. The vet staff has been doing by-weekly check ups and her injuries are healing nicely. She has also been taking a few tentative flights around her exhibit and growing stronger everyday.