HOW ENDANGERED IS IT?

All species (including plants, fish, mammals and reptiles) are classified according to how many are left in the wild. Researchers also calculate the percentage that a population of a particular species has decreased:

* They sometimes graze in open grassland next to roads and get hit by vehicles.

* Farmers sometimes spray poison to kill insects or other birds that feed on their crops. Southern ground-hornbills eat these birds and insects and are then also poisoned.

* People who use muti kill the birds because they believe that putting a southern ground-hornbill outside your front door will prevent lightning from striking your house.

* Have you ever seen a bird fighting with its reflection in a glass door or car window? Southern ground-hornbills also do this, but they have such a big bill that they can break the glass! This territorial behaviour angers people and they sometimes kill the birds for breaking their windows.

* Deforestation means that southern ground-hornbills have fewer and fewer trees to build their nests in.

* It’s the only kind of hornbill that doesn’t seal up its nest. Predators like genets and snakes steal their eggs.

* Southern ground-hornbills only raise one chick at a time. Are you worried about the southern ground-hornbill now?