African Ground Hornbill Chicks 2000

African Ground Hornbill Chicks 2000

My Mom is Treetops and my Dad is Abby
watch me as I change and grow!

2 days old	2 days old
My eyes aren't open yet. I am in my incubator all snuggly and warm.	I can only hold my head up with a little help from my friends. My skin is kind of pink and shiny.
12 days old	12 days old
Wow, look at that, my skin turned black and I've more than doubled in size. I'm hungry...again!	I love my "pinkies" (that's what they call my food). Yum, yum, yum!
17 days old	17 days old
I'm really getting big and you can see my feathers are starting to show. My keepers say I look like a sour sop fruit (fat, round and prickly). I beg to differ!	My bill is looking more like that of my parents. When you click on my picture you will see my eyelashes starting to grow in. Mom and Dad have beautiful eyelashes.
19 days old	24 days old
I'm so, so comfortable, snoozing the hours away. I go through a lot of disposable diapers every day. If you want to donate some for me, call 971-7199.	Look how I've grown! My pinfeathers are really showing now. Everyone who touches me is surprised at how soft my skin and pinfeathers are.
24 days old	Yum, yum, yum
You can really see my eyelashes now and I am starting to focus on my world better. I love mealtime. My keepers are calling me Squirt, so I guess that's my name.	You may think these are gross, but I sure don't. These are the "pinkies" that I get fed, along with some other stuff that would take your appetite away!
26 days old	31 days old
If you could touch my feathers, you would find them very soft. It will be at least another 25 days or so before I can stand on my own two feet.	I can sit up pretty tall when I want some more food. My feathers are growing in fast and I am starting to peck at things with my beak.
31 days old	Susan, one of my nannies
My eyelashes are really modified feathers. Did you know that there are only 4 kinds of birds that have eyelashes? I heard an ostrich has them, but I don't have any idea what kind of bird that is.	There are a lot of people who take really good care care of me here. I may not look like it, but they say my body is almost the size of a soccer ball.
38 days old	38 days old
My legs are getting stronger every day and I am covered in soft feathers. My wings are long too...haven't figured out yet what they are for.	Everyone says I'm looking more and more like a grown-up bird . Just look at my kool eyelashes.
38 days old	45 days old
I get excited when I see a hand move toward me....usually it means food.	I like pecking at a hand when it is offered, but I do it gently. I love it when my keepers massage my head.
45 days old	45 days old
Today I actually stood up on my feet; but not for long. In 10 days or maybe less, I should be taking my first steps.	Today I ate 30 chicks and 8 mice, skinned of course, plus 8 fuzzies (dead mice wearing coats). Bon Appetite!
51 days old	51 days old
Finally, I'm standing on my feet! I'm using my wing to steady myself a little.	I like to peck at shiny things like these keys. I now weigh 3.95 kilograms (over 8 pounds)!
59 days old	What's for lunch?
I am now able to walk around and each day I get to go out into the sunshine. When I mature, all that silver skin will turn red.	Each meal is carefully prepared by our bird chefs. I can't eat the heads yet, so they go outside to my parents.
59 days old	59 days old
I have learned to eat on my own now. It's not easy to catch the crickets that are hopping around in the bottom of this bucket.	First I pick up a piece of my food (I'm trying to remember what the next step is here) and then I skillfully flip it to the back of my mouth and swallow. Yum, yum, yum!
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!! There are really 2 of us and have been all along! Our names are Squirt and Sebastian. Sebastian was hatched in the incubator 5 days after Squirt. In the wild it is not uncommon for 2 chicks to hatch 5 days apart. However, the second chick that hatches will almost always die of starvation. It takes a great deal of energy on the parents part to feed just one chick, let alone two. Even with all the knowledge and special care of our bird staff, chicks that are hatched out in an incubator and hand raised still face many physical challenges. We decided to play it safe and wait until our babies were home free before showing them off together to the world.
74 days old	74 days old
Sebastian on the left and Squirt on the right.. Until we are DNA sexed, no one knows if we are boys or girls.	Our pen is very large and divided down the middle to keep us separated, but Squirt always gets over the divide so he can hang out with Sebastian.
74 days old	74 days old
This is Sebastian but few can tell which is which. We still have some growing to do before we will look like our Mom and Dad with all that red skin.	Once in a while we toss around our toys. In the wild we would use sticks.
74 days old	74 days old
Mahalo everyone for tuning in, and I'm glad you finally know who I am. Aloha, Sebastian	Thanks to everyone who has kept up with my development. Aloha, Squirt