Great Hornbill - in Culture

In Culture

Tribals threaten the Great Indian Hornbills with their desire for its various parts. The beaks and head are used in charms and the flesh is believed to be medicinal. The squabs are considered a delicacy. Tribesmen in parts of northeastern India and Borneo use their feathers for head-dresses, and their skulls are often worn as decorations. Their flesh is considered unfit for eating by the Nagas with the belief that they produce sores on their feet as in the bird. When dancing with the feathers of the hornbill, they avoid eating vegetables as it is also believed to produce the same sores on the feet. Conservation programmes have attempted to provide tribes with feathers from captive hornbills and ceramic casques to substitute natural ones.

The hornbills is called "homrai" in Nepal (giving the name of that subspecies) and "banrao" both meaning "King of the forest".

• A Nishi tribesman wearing the traditional head-dress having a hornbill beak

• A Nishi head-dress containing an artificial hornbill beak.