What a cutie!

On June 8, an as-yet-unnamed wrinkled hornbill chick that hatched on April 12 emerged from its nest in Lands of Change: Australia and Beyond. Its sex is not yet known. The youngster is the offspring of female Morticia and male Gomez, both of whom are approximately 26 years old. This event comes seven long years after its parents’ most recent chick.

Prior to laying her eggs, the female wrinkled hornbill uses a mixture of fruit, feathers and feces to seal herself in a nesting cavity. Her mate delivers food through a tiny slit during the one-month incubation period and a five-week-to-three-month “nestling” period.

Native to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the wrinkled hornbill is considered endangered due to habitat loss. As seed dispersers, these birds play an important role in rainforest ecology. You can help protect wrinkled hornbills by purchasing products made with sustainable palm oil.