Ho Chi Minh City resident catches rare hornbill on rooftop garden trellis
After spotting a strange bird perched on a gourd trellis, a family caught it and handed it over to forest rangers. It turned out to be a rare wreathed hornbill, a member of the hornbill family listed among Vietnam's endangered, precious and rare forest animals.
On the evening of May 13, the Chi cục Kiểm lâm TP.HCM (Ho Chi Minh City Forest Protection Department) received a rare wreathed hornbill voluntarily surrendered by a resident of Hóc Môn, a former district of Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.
A resident of Ho Chi Minh City caught a rare wreathed hornbill. (Photo: N.K.)
Trịnh Đức Hùng, who lives in Xuân Thới Đông commune (in the former Hóc Môn district, Ho Chi Minh City), said that two days earlier a relative of his had gone up to the rooftop to tend the vegetable garden, saw a bird perched on the gourd trellis and caught it.
After looking it up online, Hùng learned the bird was a rare animal, so the family contacted the Ho Chi Minh City Forest Protection Department to hand it over, hoping it would be cared for, rehabilitated and released back into the wild.
According to the department, the bird is a female wreathed hornbill of the hornbill family, weighing about 1 kg, with the scientific name Rhyticeros undulatus, listed in Group IB of Vietnam's list of endangered, precious and rare forest animals. An initial assessment found the bird in poor health, with feather loss on its chest and legs and weak flight. Hunting, trading or keeping protected wild species such as hornbills is illegal in Vietnam; anyone who finds one should hand it over to the forest protection authorities.
Recently, Ho Chi Minh City residents have repeatedly found rare animals flying into their homes. On April 21, the department took in an Indian peafowl for the first time and sent it to a wildlife rescue station for care. Residents had found the bird perched on a balcony, caught it and handed it over to rangers. It is an introduced species that does not occur naturally in Vietnam.
Three days later, a security guard at Vân Đồn Secondary School (in the former District 4) caught a large bird after students reported it perched on an air-conditioner outdoor unit, and handed it over to the Ho Chi Minh City Forest Protection Department.
On April 20, the department also received and took into rescue care an oriental pied hornbill. The bird was voluntarily handed over by Nguyễn Thị Minh Châu (of Xuân Thới Đông commune, in the former Hóc Môn district). The oriental pied hornbill weighed about 0.4 kg; its scientific name is Anthracoceros albirostris, and it is listed in Group IIB of the list of endangered, precious and rare forest animals.
Rare white-headed langur "couple" spotted cradling their young on Vietnam's Cát Bà Island
Photos of two adult white-headed langurs cradling their newborns on Cát Bà Island, Hải Phòng, have drawn wide attention online.
Nearly 100-kg green turtle travels from Malaysia to Côn Đảo to lay eggs
A green turtle weighing nearly 100 kg and wearing a Malaysian tag came ashore on Hòn Bảy Cạnh, Côn Đảo, and laid 108 eggs.
New bent-toed gecko species discovered in Lào Cai, northern Vietnam
The new bent-toed gecko has yellow tubercles scattered across its back and limbs, and the toes on each limb bend in the middle.
New tree frog and orange-brown dwarf frog discovered in Vietnam
Scientists have described two new amphibians from northern Vietnam: Zhangixalus thaoae and Vietnamophryne aurantifusca.
Critically endangered big-headed turtle found in central Vietnam
Forest rangers in central Vietnam rescued a rare big-headed turtle, a strictly protected species, tangled in vines in a forest stream.
Rarely seen seal sports a "fashionable" zebra-like striped coat
Spotted off the coast of Washington state, the ribbon seal is a rarely seen seal with striking stripes across its entire body.
