Yellow-Casqued Hornbill Male Skull Replica

Description

Yellow-Casqued Hornbill Male Skull Replica (Ceratogymna elata) Information

Yellow-casqued hornbill male skull replica measures 8.8 x 2.5 x 5.7 inches. Ceratogymna elata skull is 1:1 museum-quality polyurethane resin cast of original specimen from private collector. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Made in USA.

The yellow-casqued hornbill is also known as the yellow-casqued wattled hornbill, is found in the rain forest of coastal regions of West Africa.

The yellow-casqued hornbill is one of the largest birds of the West African forest, with adults weighing up to 4.4 lb. They live mainly in the forest canopy, rarely feeding on the ground.

These birds respond in the same way to the alarm calls that Diana monkeys, which live in the same areas, emit if they notice them, and that they can distinguish the calls made by the monkeys from those they make in the presence of leopards, which prey on the monkeys but not on the hornbills.

Hunting is likely to be a major threat throughout its range and, in Ghana, over hunting is probably causing a serious decline. Logging is probably only a threat to the species in small forests where hunting is rampant.

Destruction of forest throughout its range is causing habitat fragmentation, resulting in the increasing isolation of large fragments, which may inhibit movement between seasonal food sources and lead to a reduction in its population.

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Bucerotiformes
Family: Bucerotidae
Genus: Ceratogymna
Species: C. elata
Binomial name: Ceratogymna elata (Temminck, 1831)
Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)

Compare the massive, honeycombed casque of this specimen to the yellow-casqued hornbill female skull replica to observe the dramatic variation in cranial bone development.