ALICUBI NEWS

March 29 (Alicubi) The Bronx Zoo has a present for the indigenous people of Sarawak, Malaysia--a shipment of hornbill tail feathers.

The gift isn't meant to curry favor with the tribes; rather, the zookeepers are trying to protect the birds. The people of this region (better known as Borneo) hunt hornbills for the tail feathers, which they use to decorate ceremonial headdresses. A single group of dancers may use as many as 400 feathers on their headdresses, for which they would have to kill about 40 birds.

The Wildlife Conservation Society, based at the Bronx Zoo, spent two years collecting feathers molted by captive hornbills so the Sarawak people won't feel obligated to hunt the birds--just as they've been put off hunting heads.

Some of the groups in Sarawak (most notably the Iban, the Kenyah, and the Kayan) were the "wild" Borneo headhunters of anthropological lore. Most of them have been converted to Christianity, however, and the Sarawak Tourism Board bills them as friendly, hospitable people. Like many Southeast Asian indigenous people--the hill tribes of northern Thailand, for example--they supplement their income by performing traditional dances for tourists.

Conservation scientists Elizabeth Bennett and Christine Sheppard are responsible for starting the feather drive. "By every indication hornbill feathers from zoos are just as acceptable in ceremonies," says Bennett, who has worked with the people of Sarawak for 15 years.

Rhinoceros and helmeted hornbills are known for the bony protrusion on the top of their bills--called a casque. Rhinoceros hornbills have a hollow casque. The helmeted hornbill's casque is solid, like ivory, which of course makes it hot commodity among traders in illicit animal parts. In addition to their habitat in the jungles of Malaysia, the birds can be found in neighboring Indonesia and Thailand.

The Bronx Zoo has both rhinoceros and helmeted hornbills on display, as well as a dozen other hornbill species.