Great Hornbill:
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It is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
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It is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
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Great hornbill which was earlier categorised as “Near Threatened”, is now “Vulnerable” due to high hunting pressure coupled with habitat loss and deforestation.Hornbills are indicators of the health of a forest.
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They are seed dispersers and rightly called the ‘farmers of the forest’.
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State Bird: It is the state bird of Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh. But it is not a state bird of Nagaland although Hornbill Festival is celebrated in Nagaland.
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CITES: Appendix I
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Threats: Logging, Forest clearance for agriculture, susceptible to hunting pressure among others.
