The Samar hornbill (''Penelopides samarensis'') is a species of

hornbill Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper ...

in the family

Bucerotidae Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper ...

. It is found in forests on the islands of

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

Calicoan Calicoan is an island east of Leyte Gulf, off the southeastern point of Samar in the Philippines. It is one of the islands that are part of the municipality of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Guiuan, in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Easter ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

and

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol (; ), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Bohola ...

in the east-central

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. As is the case with all Philippine tarictic hornbills, it has been considered a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

Visayan hornbill The Visayan hornbill (''Penelopides panini'') is a hornbill found in tropical moist lowland forests of the Philippines in the Western Visayas region which includes the islands of Panay, Negros and formerly as well as the island of Masbate, and f ...

Alternatively, it is considered a subspecies of Mindanao hornbill. It is illegal to hunt, capture or possess these birds under Philippine Law RA 9147.

Description and taxonomy

Ebird described it as "A fairly large bird of lowland and foothill forest. Small for a hornbill. Bill fairly short with black bands, and with bare skin around the eyes and chin. Male has pale underparts and head with a black cheek, a pale buffy tail with a black tip, and pale blue facial skin. Female is entirely black with a buffy band through the center of the tail and darker blue facial skin.

Rufous hornbill The rufous hornbill (''Buceros hydrocorax''), also known as the Philippine hornbill and locally as kalaw (pronounced KAH-lau), is a large species of hornbill endemic to the Philippines (the largest hornbill in the country). They are referred by l ...

occurs in some of the same areas, but has a red bill. Samar Hornbill's voice is a short, medium-pitched honk, reminiscent of a squeaky toy, often given in rapid series." Formerly was once a single species.

, Luzon hornbill, Mindanao hornbill and

Mindoro hornbill The Mindoro hornbill (''Penelopides mindorensis'') is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is Endemism, endemic to forests on Mindoro in the Philippines found in tropical moist lowland forests. As is the case with all five Philippi ...

. It is most similar to the Mindanao hornbill which it was again split from although some authorities believe in its treatment as a subspecies. It is differentiated from the Mindanao hornbill as it is larger and the male has black and not rufous uppertail. Its call is also in a slightly lower frequency.

Ecology and behavior

They are primarily

frugivorous A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...

eating figs and berries but they are also known to eat

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s and other small animals. Usually seen in pairs but can form flocks of up to 15 birds. All hornbills are monogamous and mate for life.They are cavity nesters and rely on large

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...

trees for breeding. The female seals itself within the tree cavity and the male is in charge of gathering food for its mate and chicks. The male stores food in a

gular pouch Gular skin (throat skin), in ornithology, is an area of featherless skin on birds that joins the lower mandible of the beak (or ''bill'') to the bird's neck. Other vertebrate taxa may have a comparable anatomical structure that is referred to as ...

and regurgitates it to feed its mate and chicks.

Cooperative breeding Cooperative breeding is a social system characterized by alloparental care: offspring receive care not only from their parents, but also from additional group members, often called helpers. Cooperative breeding encompasses a wide variety of group s ...

, wherein immature birds from previous seasons help out in feeding the female and chick has not been observed with this species so far. Among Philippine hornbills, it has only been recorded with the

. Among the tarictics, this species is one of the least studied but breeding habits believed to be similar to the better studied Luzon and Visayan hornbill. Clutch size is presumed to be 2 to 3 eggs. Incubation period is slightly shorter than the Luzon hornbill at just 25 days. In captivity, which may also refer to the Mindanao hornbill which it was formerly conspecific with, chicks fledge within 47 to 54 days.

Habitat and conservation status

Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are

tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Description TSMF is generally found in large ...

with most records under 750 meters above sea level. IUCN still recognizes it as a subspecies of the Mindanao hornbill so there is no specific assessment for this species. However, it has gone extensive lowland deforestation on all islands in its range is the main threat. Most remaining lowland forest that is not afforded protection leaving it vulnerable to both legal and

Illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

, conversion into farmlands through

Slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody p ...

and mining. There is only 4% forest remaining in

and around 400km² of

primary forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

combined in

and

with no respite in deforestation. This occurs in a few protected areas such as

Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape The Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape is a protected landscape area of forested limestone hills, grasslands and natural springs in the island province of Bohol in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. It is the largest remaining tract of ...

and

Samar Island Natural Park The Samar Island Natural Park, in Samar, is the largest contiguous tract of old-growth forest in the Philippines. It is the country's largest terrestrial protected area, with an area of . The buffer is spread north to south over the island's three ...

however protection is lax.

References

* Kemp, A. C. (2001). Family Bucerotidae (Hornbills). pp. 436–523 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J. eds. (2001). ''Handbook of the Birds of the World.'' Vol. 6. Mousebirds to Hornbills. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Penelopides Fauna of Samar Fauna of Leyte Fauna of Bohol Birds described in 1890 Taxa named by Joseph Beal Steere Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Endemic birds of the Philippines {{Bucerotiformes-stub