Birds Guide

Ground-hornbill
Southern Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia   Phylum: Chordata   Class: Aves   Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Bucerotidae   Subfamily: Bucorvinae   Genus: Bucorvus Lesson, 1830
Species
Bucorvus leadbeateri Bucorvus abyssinicus

The Ground-hornbills (Bucorvinae) are a subfamily of the hornbill family Bucerotidae, with a single genus Bucorvus and two extant species:

• Abyssinian Ground-hornbill Bucorvus abyssinicus (also known as Northern Ground-hornbill)
  Southern Ground-hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri

The subfamily is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa - Abyssinian Ground-hornbill being found in a belt from Senegal east to Ethiopia, with Southern Ground-hornbill occurring in the south and east of the continent.

A prehistoric ground-hornbill, Bucorvus brailloni, has been described from fossil bones.

Ground hornbills are large, with adults around a metre tall. Both species are ground-dwelling, unlike other hornbills. Some ornithologists raise the Ground-hornbills to family level on account of this and other distinctive features.