The Tanzanian red-billed hornbill (''Tockus ruahae'') is a species of hornbill in the family

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

. It is found in central

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

. All five

red-billed hornbill The red-billed hornbills are a group of hornbills found in the savannas and woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. They are now usually split into five species, the northern red-billed hornbill (''Tockus erythrorhynchus''), western red-billed hornbill ...

s were formerly considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organis ...

Description

Tanzanian red-billed hornbills (''Tockus ruahae'') are small hornbills in the group of the

s. They have curved, bright red bills that end in a small dot of dark orange. Their sclera can vary from light orange to dark yellow and their

pupil The pupil is a black hole located in the center of the Iris (anatomy), iris of the Human eye, eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing ...

s are usually dark black. Like most species of hornbills, they support medium-sized circles of black skin around their eyes, both in females and males. They have greyish-white necks and bellies and their wings, like all red billed hornbills, have large and small spots of white surrounded by black feathers. Their tail feathers are long and black on the exterior and white on the interior.

Distribution

Tanzanian red-billed hornbills can be found in central

. They are usually found resting or nesting in trees in forests or savannahs where their food is plentiful.

Gallery

image:Red billed hornbill Tockus erythrorhynchus in Tanzania 3653 Nevit.jpg, Adult male in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

References

*Kemp, A.C. and W. Delport. 2002. Comments on the status of subspecies in the red-billed hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus) complex (Aves: Bucerotidae), with the description of a new taxon endemic to Tanzania. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 39: 1–8. *Delport, W., A.C. Kemp, and J.W.H. Ferguson. 2004. Structure of an African Red-billed Hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus rufirostris and T. e. damarensis) hybrid zone as revealed by morphology, behavior, and breeding biology. Auk 121: 565–586.

Tanzanian red-billed hornbill The Tanzanian red-billed hornbill (''Tockus ruahae'') is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is found in central Tanzania. All five red-billed hornbills were formerly considered conspecific. Description Tanzanian red-billed ho ...

Endemic birds of Tanzania

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