A rare sighting was captured by Bev Field in Kruger National Park involving a Southern Ground Hornbill and a sneaky snack. These bird species tend to forage for their food on the ground and have a diet primarily consisting of small creatures and insects.
Unsplash/Ricardo Ferro
Latest Sightings shows footage of the hungry young hornbill proudly carrying a dead snake in its beak, the snake’s length surpassing the hornbill’s. While the other older hornbills seemed to stray away from the snake, the youngster would soon find out its eyes were larger than its stomach.
A comical moment commenced as the hornbill had the snake stuck in its throat and could not seem to remove it. While the hornbill seemed to be in distress and struggling, the other hornbills did not alter their behaviour to assist the bird, perhaps to ensure a valuable teaching moment took place.
The bird continuously tried to pry the bird out of its throat, dragging the snake’s weight around to try to loosen it. The hornbill eventually collapsed from exhaustion as the other hornbills did not offer a helping hand, which is a tough thing to watch as the bird begins to lose hope.
As the Southern Ground Hornbill is considered an endangered species, this footage is hard to watch, as these lives are essential to protect. The struggle between human intervention and letting nature take its course is a challenging undertaking in these dire circumstances.
Eventually, the hornbill could remove the snake from its throat, but it seems he did not learn his lesson from his struggles. He continued to peck and prod the snake; whether he succeeded in his second attempt is unknown.
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