Home » Home » WATCH: Brevard Zoo’s Hornbill Morticia Becomes a Mom Again, Gives Birth to Multiple Chicks

WATCH: Brevard Zoo’s Hornbill Morticia Becomes a Mom Again, Gives Birth to Multiple Chicks

By  //  April 7, 2021

Wrinkled hornbills are found throughout much of southeast Asia

ABOVE VIDEO: Brevard Zoo’s hornbill Morticia has become a mom again. Wrinkled hornbills, which are found throughout much of southeast Asia, are losing their rainforest habitat at such a rapid rate that their status was reclassified from “near threatened” to “endangered” in 2018. (Brevard Zoo video)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Brevard Zoo’s hornbill Morticia has become a mom again.

If you look closely, you’ll see two chicks under her watchful wings. She is still sitting on two eggs that could hatch out.

When preparing to lay her eggs, a female hornbill will use a mixture of mud, food and feces to seal herself into a tree cavity for protection. (A nest box is provided in human care to simulate this opening.)

Her mate will pass food through a tiny slit until the chick is grown enough to survive in the open forest.

Wrinkled hornbills, which are found throughout much of southeast Asia, are losing their rainforest habitat at such a rapid rate that their status was reclassified from “near threatened” to “endangered” in 2018.

The longer Morticia stayed in the nest box, keepers knew, the likelier it was that Morticia had laid an egg that hatched and was caring for a chick. (Brevard Zoo image)
WATCH: When They’re Not Making Babies, Brevard Zoo’s Morticia and Gomez Charm Keepers with Their IntelligenceRelated Story:
WATCH: When They’re Not Making Babies, Brevard Zoo’s Morticia and Gomez Charm Keepers with Their Intelligence

CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY NEWS