Brno Zoo has reached a major milestone in its bird collection with the arrival of the exceptionally rare Guinean hornbill. The arrival of the new pair, a female from Athens and a male from Hungary, is the result of a long and difficult process that began back in 2018. This marks the first time in the zoo’s history that this species, native to the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, has been exhibited in the city.
The path to bringing these birds to South Moravia was anything but simple. The zoo first began trying to acquire the species in 2018, originally attempting to import birds from Java. For eight years, the zoo engaged in complex international negotiations with partners in Indonesia and breeding coordinators across Europe, before finally securing the young pair this year.
As a result, Brno is now one of only 26 European zoos to house this species, joining a very small group of Czech facilities that includes Liberec and Zlín. Dr. Petr Suvorov, the zoo’s curator of bird breeding, expressed great pride in the acquisition, noting that the goal is now to establish a stable breeding pair that will eventually contribute to the international population through successful reproduction.
The Guinean hornbill, also known as the Melanesian or dark hornbill, has a wingspan of up to 1.5 meters and a lifespan that can reach 50 years in human care. While the species is currently listed as “Least Concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), it remains a rarity in captivity due to how complicated and limited its breeding can be.
These birds are native to the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea, the Moluccas, and the Solomon Islands. The zoo hopes that as this young pair reaches sexual maturity (usually between ages 4 and 6), they will successfully breed and help sustain the European population, which currently stands at only about 60 individuals.
The addition of these birds represents a return to the display of “large” hornbill species in Brno for the first time in over three decades. While the zoo has recently focused on ground-dwelling and smaller tree-dwelling hornbills, these new residents are the first large-scale representatives of the family since the 1990s, when visitors could see Malabar and yellow-billed hornbills.
The new residents have been settled into the Exotarium pavilion, located in the upper part of the zoo grounds.
