Bangladesh’s hornbills face hunting risk during breeding season

Hornbills are being targeted during their breeding season in Bangladesh, with rescue records over the last several years showing a concentration of cases between May and August, when the forest dwellers are nesting, breeding and raising chicks.

Analyzing rescue data from the Forest Department and Bangladesh Police, Mongabay found at least 26 birds, including 14 great hornbills (Buceros bicornis) and 12 oriental pied hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris), were rescued in 12 separate cases between May and August from 2023 to 2026. (The reporter collected the data manually; hence we have no links)

Eight of these cases were recorded in the southeastern part of the country, where hornbill habitats are located. A 2018 Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Bangladesh report also found that hornbills were collected in the Chattogram Hill Tracts during the nesting season.

According to a 2021 study published in Scientific Reports, this species’ breeding season runs from March to mid-August.

“The risk to hornbills during this period is closely tied to their unique breeding behavior. The female seals herself inside a tree cavity with mud or vegetation and cannot leave the nest during the breeding period. The male stays outside and repeatedly brings food to the female, and later to the chicks, inside the cavity. This makes the nest easier for hunters to trace, while reaching the cavity gives them access to both the female and the chicks,” said hornbill researcher Humayra Mahmud, an assistant professor of zoology at Noakhali Science and Technology University.

‘Local poachers have learned the breeding behavior of hornbills’

A 2025 rescue by the Forest Department in Bandarban Hill District provides a clear example of chicks being taken from a nest. The rescuer, Touhidur Rahman Tagor, a deputy ranger of the Forest Department who inspected the case, said that two hunters took two great hornbill chicks from a cavity in a gurjan tree (Dipterocarpus turbinatus) about 60 feet above the ground in Yaumbom Para under Sangu-Matamuhuri Reserve Forest.

Tagor said, “At first hunters targeted the nest. But they failed to climb the tree directly because it was too thick. Later, a hunter climbed a thinner adjacent tree and used it to reach the cavity. They told me that several trafficking groups in different areas bought hornbills from poachers. And that two great hornbill chicks were being taken to Alikadam Upazila of Bandarban and expected to sell them.”

The same type of nest-based hunting has also been observed in Cox’s Bazar’s Baishari Bangdepa Wildlife Sanctuary. Nahid Mahmud, a forester at the sanctuary, said he rescued two pied hornbill chicks after a poacher took them from a nest cavity in a dense forest in 2025.

Mahmud has been working in the sanctuary for four years and observed several hornbill nests. “The species nest in cavities of large trees such as gurjan and boilam (Anisoptera scaphula), usually 50 to 80 feet above the ground,” he added.

“Based on my field experience, local poachers have learned the breeding behavior of hornbills and take advantage of this period. They know the female stays inside the nest while the male regularly brings food, making the nest easier to locate. The chicks are also unable to fly during this period, making them easier to collect,” said Shahriar Caesar Rahman, a member of Creative Conservation Alliance who works on hornbill conservation in the deep forests in southeastern Bangladesh.

Demand for live hornbills and body parts drives the trade

Demand for both live birds and their body parts drives the targeting of hornbills, researchers and forest department officials said.

“Most of the hornbills rescued are chicks taken from nests during the reproductive cycle; they are still unable to fly, and every chick is being sold for up to 100,000 taka ($800) after changing several hands. Besides, adult hornbills are rarely rescued alive as hunters kill them at first for their casque and beak, which are then trafficked as trophies,” said Ashim Mallick, an official of the Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit.

Mallick said the repeated rescue of hornbills during breeding season is a concern.

The trade in live hornbills is also documented across Southeast Asia. TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring agency, reported that it rescued at least 268 live hornbills after conducting 99 rescue operations between 2015 and 2021.

Mahmud, the hornbill researcher, said great hornbills are targeted for their casque and beak, which are used for ornament, medicinal purposes and traditional items in some communities and are also symbols of status in rich people’s houses. In addition, people keep live hornbills in private zoos in different countries, while oriental pied hornbills are mainly kept as captive birds.

The 2018 WCS Bangladesh report also said that baby hornbills were collected from nests and sold to middlemen for $50 each, and live baby hornbills were also offered for sale on Facebook. In addition, locals regularly hunt hornbills, because they consume their meat and sell their body parts.

The loss of hornbills could have wide consequences for the forests they inhabit, as wild birds play an important role in tropical forests as seed dispersers. Hornbills feed on fruits and carry seeds away from parent trees, helping plants regenerate and spread across the forest. A 2011 study found that hornbills provide significant seed-dispersal services to tropical plants in their habitats.

Hornbills remain vulnerable despite legal protection

In Bangladesh, three species of hornbills are recorded. The country’s National Red List, published in 2015, classified the great hornbill as vulnerable, the oriental pied hornbill as least concern and the wreathed hornbill (Rhyticeros undulatus) as data deficient.

All three hornbill species found in Bangladesh are protected under the country’s Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012, which prohibits their hunting, capture and killing.

The documented cases over the last four years are some of the incidents that garner attention following rescues. But conservationists said many more birds are likely being hunted and trafficked without being detected. Taken together, the rescue records and field evidence point to a recurring threat to hornbills during the breeding season.

“Those involved in trafficking should be brought under the law. At the same time, people living around habitats need to be made aware of the importance of hornbills. It can help prevent the collection of birds and chicks during breeding season,” said Samiul Mohsanin, coordinator of Combating Wildlife Trade under the Terrestrial Conservation Program at WCS Bangladesh.

Banner image: A male great hornbill approaches the nest in which its mate stays with the eggs or chicks. Image by Nandha via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Citations:

Vikrant, A., Balakrishnan, J., Naniwadekar, R., & Datta, A. (2021). The flight of the hornbill: drift and diffusion in arboreal avian movement. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 5591. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-84074-3

Kitamura, S. (2011). Frugivory and seed dispersal by hornbills (Bucerotidae) in tropical forests. Acta Oecologica, 37(6), 531-541. doi:10.1016/j.actao.2011.01.015