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Josephine Madeleine
Ibu Kusumawati Hutabarat
Science 8
14 March 2016
Animal Survivor Report: Plain-pouched Hornbill
The Belum Temenggor Rainforest is a home to over thousands of different kinds of
species, consisting of 3000 species of flowering plants, over 100 species of mammals; which
most are critically endangered species, 316 species of birds, and 23 species of freshwater
fishes and 5 species of turtles living in the artificial lake of Temenggor; being the second
largest lake in Peninsula Malaysia. The Belum Rainforest is the most well known of its many
species of Raflesia flower growing in it and the amusing birdwatching activity visitors came
for to see different species of birds flying across the sky. Belum Temenggor Rainforest has
also been the home for generations of aboriginal people for ten thousand years ago and even
until today on. The rainforest have been around since 130 million years ago. It is located in
the tropics region, in the country of Malaysia, state of Perak and stretches to Southern
Thailand, allowing it to receive an amount of rainfall ranging from 10 centimeters to 30
centimeters a month and temperature ranging from 23 C and 32 C. The balance amount of
rainfall and sunlight it receives allows it to have a high level biodiversity. The rainforest has
an area of over 300,000 hectares area. In the year 2007, The Royal Belum State Park was
legalized by the Malaysian government, covering 117,500 hectares of the Belum Temonggor
Rainforest clarified as a protected area, managed by the Perak State Parks Corporation, while
the other two thirds remained unprotected. However, 148,00 hectares of Temenggor 16,000
hectares of Lower Belum and 35,000 hectares of Gerik Forest Reserves are managed by the
Perak State Forestry Department. The NGOs are still persuading the government to
permanently protect the entire forest area. In the 21st century, the rainforest have been under

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threat by a lot of human activities such as intense logging, both by legal companies and
illegal loggers. Logging have caused pollution, landslides, and harm to the environment. It is
also a home to thousands of species along with 10,000 local people. Aside from that, there
had been a lot of hunting causing many populations to decrease. The lack of one population
will impact a lot to the whole environment.
One of the most famous bird species found in the Belum Temonggor Rainforest is the
Plain-pouched Hornbill. They are found originally in Myanmar and spread to Thailand and
well known in the Malaysian Belum Rainforest. The size of male Plain-pouched hornbills
ranges from 86.5 to 89.5 cm meanwhile the size of female Plain-pouched hornbills are
smaller, ranging from 76 to 84 cm. The Plain-pouched hornbills have a pale colored head,
neck and tail and a swelling gular pouch. The male have yellow pouches and dark brown
head and nape, cream breast whereas the female have blue pouches. They make a loud, highpitched keh-kek-kehk sound. Like all the other hornbill species, they have a heavy, large,
curved pale yellow bill with a reddish-brown base. They are found mainly in the canopy,
reaching as high as 1,000 meters. However Plain-pouch hornbills goes to the ground to eat. It
has a variety of diet. They eat mostly fruits and also animal preys including insects, reptiles,
and the eggs and chicks of other birds. During January and June they normally make nests in
holes in tall, big trees with wide leaves and lay around one to three eggs. They are classified
as vulnerable. One of its minor threats is hunting. There are too much hunters that came to
take the Plain-pouched hornbills for pet trade. Besides that, it is also threatened by
deforestation, which is also a major threat to its home and habitat causing their population to
decrease.
Hornbills are identical of their large and heavy bills. They have big strong bills to help
them to fight, preen, build nests, and catch their preys. In order to carry these heavy bills, the
hornbills have two neck vertebrae; the axis and the atlas that are connected to one another in

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order to support their bills. They are the only type of bird that has such neck adaptation. Not
only that, they also have strong neck muscles to help them use their bills to find food, protect
themselves and survive. Hornbills also exhibit daily migration. Plain-pouched hornbill travels
to or from their roosting place in large flocks to help them survive. By traveling in flocks,
they will get more food. They are also protected from predators or any dangerous threats,
because by traveling in flocks they have higher chance of detecting a predator or any other
threats. Also, with a lot of them, they are able to confuse the predator and provide the
predator more targets, which lower the risk for one bird. There are three different types of
flocks that the plain-pouched hornbills congregate in. The first is foraging flocks where they
travel in large group in the look of food. Then there are also feeding flocks, temporary flocks
in which the birds gather for an uncertain amount of time. The last type of flocks is the
communal roost formed as foraging flocks come together in the evening to rest.
Plain-pouched hornbill plays a really important role in maintaining biodiversity of the
trees of the forest. As they eat fruits as a part of their diet, they are also dropping seeds as
they go, spreading it over an area so that more trees will grow and the forest will be maintain
healthy. Besides that, as they also eat insects and many other small animals, they are also
controlling the organisms population. However, the logging and deforestation is still on
continuing, especially that the timber industry is a major source of economy for the state,
which also provides employment for more than 10,000 workers. Over the course of time, not
just the plain-pouched hornbills but all the animals living in the rainforest will eventually lost
all their habitat and have no where to go, ended up being killed. The plain-pouched hornbills
wouldnt be able to build their nests and find enough food and gradually, their population will
keep on decreasing.

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Reflection
Is there anything that a human can learn from this organisms characteristics, that could
enhance human survival in a particular environment? Are there survival principles that can be
extrapolated from a study of this creature?
As was mentioned in the essay, plain-pouched hornbills travel in flocks to forage.
They cooperate and work together finding food and avoiding the predators and any dangerous
threats. I think that it was smart to travel in groups not only for the plain-pouched hornbills
but also for human. According to Maslows studies of human needs, in order for human to
survive there are 7 stages of basic needs that need to be achieved. One must fulfill the lower
level needs before progressing to achieve higher-level needs. But by surviving together in a
group, the first three basic needs are easier achieved. Not only that you have a friend that
loves you and you love (belongingness and love), it is needs also it is easier to collect more
food, to rest, (fulfilling the physiological needs) and they are also better protected from harm
or danger (fulfilling the safety needs). It lowers the risk of dying. It is always better to stick
together as a group in case anyone needs a hand of help. For example, in the wild, if there are
any unexpected danger that are approaching us, like a wild animal, one can help distract,
while others can run and survive first.

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Work Cited
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Belum. Salgari, Ltd., 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
Chew, Ho hua, and Supari, Sutari. Observations of Plain-pouched Hornbills Aceros
subruficollis in Tasek Temengor, Peninsular Malaysia. Folktail. N.p., n.d. Web. 14
Mar. 2016.
Plain-pouched hornbill (Aceros Subruficollis). Wildscreen Arkive. Environment
Agency Abu Dhabi, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
Plain-pouched Hornbill: Migration or flocking? Bird Ecology Study. Bird Ecology Study
Group, 27 Jul. 2008. Web. 14. Mar. 2016.
Sydenham, Shirley, and Thomas, Ron. Hornbills. Kidcyber. N.p., 2014. Web. 14 Mar.
2016.
The Hornbill Research Foundation. Mahidol. Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, 22
April. 2009. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.