According to a recent study, a colorful bird, “The Lion King,” is being snuffed out by climate change.
Global warming is lessening the breeding achievement of the southern yellow-billed hornbill, which is generally seen in scrub and thirsty woodland areas of South Africa.
Commonly, you will detect yellow and red-billed hornbills on a safari, just like the Disney character Zazu. In the animated musical, he is the most important advisor to Simba’s pride of lions.
Author Dr. Nicholas Pattinson who belonged to the University of Cape Town said that “There is rapidly growing evidence for the negative effects of high temperatures on the behavior, physiology, breeding, and survival of various bird, mammal, and reptile species around the world.”
“For example, heat-related mass die-off events over a few days are increasingly being recorded, which no doubt pose a threat to population persistence and ecosystem function.”
Chick numbers collapsed during the 12 years due to rising air temperature. Data was exclusively collected from pairs breeding in wooden nest boxes.
Pattinson said: “During the monitoring period, sub-lethal effects of high temperatures – including compromised foraging, provisioning, and body mass maintenance – reduced the chance of hornbills breeding successfully or even breeding at all.”
