A bird that's more valuable than ivory

bbc.com

18 points·ghosh··9 comments

What on earth is wrong with us humans? We seem to hunt animals to extinction for nothing more than a trinket manufactured from them! It has no life saving medicinal value or any such other kind of intrinsic value.

One day our children will look at us with disbelief and disdain as one of the most idiotic unenlightened "civilised" generations.

I hope your last sentence will come true.

I agree, it will be truly sad if it never happens.

The hornbill is a remarkable bird, with over distinctive 100 species.

They are also one of the most intelligent. When you see one in a zoo, he is actually watching you - it feels like you're in the presence of a primate.

If hornbill is that valuable, why not breed and farm it?

Not all species can be bred and farmed in captivity.

You can tell this to hen and pigs. You will be astonished by their answers about how few generations of artificial selection will result in successful variety. I once spent a year working with a private zoo owner and collector. He had several species successfully bred in captivity, while the mainstream opinion was "its impossible to breed Eublepharis turcmenicus in captivity". Before 1988 there were only 40 known specimen. He alone had 20 alive and breeding. Just a matter of observation, careful experiment and some money, not much. That hornbill is a challenge, but not impossible one. I bet you, its cheaper to establish breeding program, than spent money on poachers.

Disclaimer: Worked 6 years in nature conservation programmes.

that bird is really ugly

I feel that the poaching is awful but when I saw the last pic, I did have a second where I said "Well damn...that bird is a real fuggle."

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