The casques, bound for China, are processed into objects of art such as sword handles and other items. As many as 285 bills from enggang gading (Helmeted Hornbill) were confiscated in smuggling attempts foiled by the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) of West Kalimantan.ĭescribing the seizure as “unusually large,” the Centre said this had, without doubt, resulted in a reduction of the male hornbill population in the area. The Jakarta Post (November 2012) reported that hornbill body parts had been smuggled out of Kalimantan, Indonesia. Moreover, hornbills are reportedly also hunted for food. Widespread logging and poaching are allegedly threatening to push some of the popular species to the brink of extinction in the forests of Borneo. Today, it still enjoys the exalted status as the Sarawak state emblem.īut is Sarawak still truly the Land of Hornbills? The Rhinoceros Hornbill is noted for the loud ‘whooshing’ sound of its huge wings and the rasping harshness of its haunting call. For some Dayaks, especially the Ibans, the hornbill represents the chief of worldly birds or the supreme worldly bird, and its statue is used to welcome Sengalang Burong, the god of the augural birds, to the feast and celebration of humankind. The Rhinoceros Hornbill is the state bird of Sarawak. It’s found in lowlands and montane, tropical and subtropical regions, and mountain rainforests up to an altitude of 1,400 metres in Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore and southern Thailand. The Black Hornbill is the most common while the Rhinoceros Hornbill is the largest of the bucerotidae family in Sarawak.Īn adult Rhinoceros Hornbill is about the size of a swan – 91-122 cm long and weighing two to three kilogrammes. Sarawak is known as the Land of Hornbills because these birds can be found in most parts of the state. The two species found in the peninsula are Plain Pouch and Great Hornbills while the eight indigenous to Sarawak are Oriental-pied Hornbill (anthracoceros albirostris), Black Hornbill (anthracoceros malayanus), Bushy-crested Hornbill (anorrhinus galeritus), White-crowned (crested) Hornbill (berenicornis comatus), Rhinoceros Hornbill (buceros rhinoceros), Helmeted Hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil), Wrinkled Hornbill (aceros corrugatus) and wreathed Hornbill (aceros undulatus). There are 10 hornbill species in Malaysia, eight of which are found in Sarawak, according to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC). I had seen a hornbill – possibly from the Oriental-pied species – flying above Logan Bunut Lake in Lawas while I was making a boat tour around the lake in 2010.Īctually, it’s not uncommon to find hornbills in the forests or see them winging across the land in search of food or back to roost in the hollowed out part of a tree trunk. Females and males often have different coloured faces and eyes. This contrasts with the brightly coloured necks, faces, bills, and casques in many species. Hornbills have long tails, broad wings and white and black, brown, or gray feathers. You can easily pick out hornbills from other birds by a special body part atop their bill called casque. They range from the size of a pigeon to a large bird with a 1.8m wingspan. HORNBILLS (bucerotidae) have many ornithological admirers – with their long eyelashes (modified feathers), dark eyes and an almost comically large, curved bill. The tail is moving very slightly and needs to be handled with care.The Rhinoceros hornbill enjoys an exalted status as the Sarawak state emblem. The sculpture comes complete with a black metal stand and its story printed out for you inside a beautiful envelope. Afterwards the sacred hornbill is kept in the communal longhouse and brought out to receive offerings during future ceremonies and rites. At the height of the ceremony, the hornbill figure is raised at the top of a tall pole. They also are used in other, similar rites. Hornbill sculptures were at the centre of the gawai kenyalang, a ceremony that could only be led by an important war leader or his descendants. They serve as intermediaries between the deity Singalang Burong and the human world. In Iban cosmology, hornbills are associated with the spiritual world, warfare and headhunting. It’s in a beautiful condition, made in wood, paint, glass beads and metal and depicts a rhinoceros hornbill called kenyalang, a large forest bird whose beak is often made with a spiral shape. This beautiful sculpture was hand carved by local artisans in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on Borneo and home of the Iban people, dating back to the 1980's.
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