Which zoos have the best/most diverse hornbill collections?

Hornbills are one of my favorite groups of birds, thanks to their striking appearance and fascinating behaviors. I am interested in learning about zoos that keep a large diversity of these animals, zoos with less commonly kept species, and zoos with otherwise interesting or notable hornbill exhibits.

Inspired by the thread by @Onychorhynchus coronatus on zoos with the best pig/peccary collections.

 

Thanks and great to read that my thread inspired this one

 

Not sure if you've seen this yet @The Cassowary but the latest issue of "Zooquaria" magazine from EAZA has a feature on hornbills in zoos.

It is called "Hornbill heroes" about the RCP (Regional collection plan) for hornbills and the new EEP's for hornbill species.

You might find it interesting so I'll leave the link where you can download the latest issue of the magazine below :

ZOOQUARIA » EAZA

 

Walsrode has 13 different hornbill species, Vogelpark Avifauna has 11, le Parc des oiseaux in France has 10, Zlin-Lesna has 9.

The Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in Israel is worth a mention although they only have 7, they have the only Rufous-necked hornbill I know of in captivity outside of its range.

In the US I believe San Diego used to have a great collection but I'm not sure.
According to Chlidonias's species list, Jurong in Singapore has something between 18 and 20 different hornbill species/subspecies, more or less, I lost count as the species are sometimes exhibited twice or more in different exhibits.

 

Bronx has quite a bunch. They had as of recent: great hornbill, Von Der Deckens hornbill, Sulawesi hornbill, white crested hornbill, Southern Ground Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill, and knobbed hornbill. WCS also has wreathed hornbill at Prospect Park.

 

Jurong currently has 18 species of hornbills.

 

The best hornbill "enclosure" would be the Bush in Burgers' Zoo, Netherlands. 3 Wrinkled Hornbills are free-ranging in the 1.1 hectare rainforest hall, so giving them more space than any other zoo. Seeing them glide through the canopy is fantastic.

 

No breeding takes place in the Bush for the smaller species ? Does Burgers have an off-show pair for every species there?

 

Most smaller species breed in the Bush. Burgers’ has kept hornbill in the bush before and they only predated eggs and young birds when they were nesting themselves. That’s why they now keep 3.0 (surplus animals in the EEP/ESB).

 

I read in the San Diego Zoo’s Animals and Plants database indicates they have nearly 30 species of hornbill, don’t know how accurate that figure may be. It does feel like every section of Lost Forest has hornbills of all sizes and the Safari park also has a few smaller aviaries maintaining smaller size hornbills IIRC.

 

On this species list, only 8 species of hornbills are listed. Maybe they've had much more in the past, but I think nowaways, Jurong is the biggest holder.

 

Perhaps SDZ Global counted BTS species kept at the bird breeding complex. They always surprise me when they do the beak tapping sound randomly

 

The Sacramento Zoo once held 5 species of hornbill (Abyssinian ground, great Indian, knobbed, northern red-billed, and rhinoceros), which is impressive for a collection sitting of a mere 14 acres. However in the last couple years they sent away the three large flying species to other AZA zoos to make room for okapis. The great Indians went to the Bronx Zoo and the rhinoceroses went to the Gladys Porter Zoo. I'm unsure where the knobbeds went.

 

Zoo de Lagos (Portugal) has a massive hornbill collection, with 12 species according to its website. However, I believe there are 13, since a great hornbill arrived there on October 2020.

 

At one point San Diego was a major holder of hornbills, I believe they have gone out of many species though. That said they do maintain quite a few species still, including some rarities for North America.