SACON is an autonomous body funded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF), which has been researching into local bird and animal life. It is situated in a panoramic location along the Western Ghats, about 30 km from Coimbatore on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border.

The three-year project, funded by the MEF, entails a study of the various ways in which the hornbills interact with trees. But this is just one of the many projects being launched to document details on the life and habitat of hornbills. Several scholars from SACON and the Wild Life Institute of India are already hard at work on the bird.

Dr P. Balasubramanian, who is the principal investigator of the three-year project, says that of the 54 species of hornbills the world over, India accounts for nine, of which four are found in the Western Ghats. The Malabar Grey Hornbill is endemic to the region and is confined to the moist forests of Malabar. While other species found here like the Great Pied Hornbill and the Malabar Pied Hornbill are on the endangered list, the Common Grey Hornbill is safe.

Other important species of this bird that are available from records include the Common Grey Bill and the Great Pied Hornbill, both of which are found all over India, while the Malabar Grey and the Malabar Pied Horn Bill are found only in the Western Ghats.

The White Throated Brown Hornbill, the Rufous Necked Hornbill, the Wreathed Hornbill and the Indian Pied Hornbills are found only in Northeastern India and the Gangetic Plain. Narcondom Hornbills are found only in the Narcondom Islands of Andamans and Nicobar. According to Dr Ravishankar, who has been studying this species, only 300 Narcondom Hornbills exist today.

The hornbill is hunted down largely for its meat which is also believed to have medicinal value. ``We hope to suggest conservation measures for hornbills after we have completed our project,'' says Dr Vijayan. As of now, according to researchers, there are no specific conservation measures for the hornbill in place.

Since only about 5 to 7 per cent of their habitat is protected, they remain extremely vulnerable to the poacher. In fact about 70 per cent of its total population could get decimated over a short period of time because of lack of protection. Apart from poaching, the loss of habitat and the felling of fruit yielding trees have made life even more difficult for these beautiful birds.

Balasubramanian will now study regions like the hyper-diverse regions of southwest India along the Wynad-Mysore forest belt in the Nilgiris tract. The entire landscape, encompassing an area of 5,520 sq km, consists of dry evergreen forest, with mountain stretches interpersed with grasslands.

During the last two months, only three hornbills could be noticed in Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. The lifestyle of these giant birds, with their colourful plumage, makes an interesting story. According to Balasubramanian, hornbills are secondary hole nesters and prefer natural cavities in large trees to build their nests in. They are popular in the ornithological world for their unique habit of sealing their nests during the breeding period and while raising their nestlings.

The male and female select a suitable nest hold. Once this is done, the female enters into the hold and seals it by using a sticky paste made from her own droppings mixed with twigs and other waste materials. The female hornbill uses her large beak for this cementing process. She covers the hold almost completely, leaving a small opening just wide enough to put her beak out for food. The male hornbill meanwhile travels over a distance of several kilometers within the forest in search of food, which he then passes on to his female through the nest opening. And thus the days go by, with the female laying her eggs inside her cosy habitation. The eggs are hatched over a period of six to eight weeks and within another two months the hatchling are ready to fly. That is when the female bird breaks open the nest sealing.

The fruits generally preferred by the hornbill include those from the fig family, the custard apple family and the neem family. Because of their peculiar feeding and breeding habits, they invariably perform the important function of dispersing the seeds of these fruit all over the forest floor which makes them an important link species in rain-fed tropical forests.

In the process, as Balasubramanium points out, the hornbills have evolved a very symbiotic relationship with both fruit-yielding trees and as well as numerous other forest tree species. Thus any marked fluctuations in the production of fruits will immediately tell on the distribution of hornbills in a particular areas. Deforestation then could well spell the extinction of the bird, especially since trees of the ficcus species are especially rare. And it works both ways. Any negative trend in the population of the hornbill will adversely affect the diversity of the tropical forest, since they act as ideal agents for dispersing forest tree species.

It is therefore very important, given the close relationship between the hornbill and the ficcus tree species, that the role the bird plays within the forest is documented immediately. Indeed, every bit of information we get out of this study will shape our understanding of our forest surroundings. This understanding will, in turn, help us to preserve our unique bio-diversity.