White-crested hornbill

This article is about the African species. For the Asian species, see White-crowned hornbill.

White-crested hornbill
File:Tropicranus albocristatus -Central Park Zoo-6a-4c.jpg
Tropicranus a. albocristatus in Central Park Zoo, USA.
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Bucerotiformes
Family:	Bucerotidae
Subfamily:	Bucerotinae
Genus:	Tropicranus W.L. Sclater, 1922
Species:	T. albocristatus
Binomial name
Tropicranus albocristatus (Cassin, 1848)
Synonyms
Tockus albocristatus Berenicornis albocristatus

The white-crested hornbill (Tropicranus albocristatus), also known as the long-tailed hornbill, is a species of hornbill (family Bucerotidae) found in humid forests of Central and West Africa. It is monotypic within the genus Tropicranus, but is sometimes included in the genus Tockus instead.

Taxonomy

There are three subspecies, which differ primarily in the amount of white to their head and neck and the presence or absence of white tips to the wing-coverts:

• Tropicranus albocristatus albocristatus (Cassin, 1848) – Guinea to the Ivory Coast.
• Tropicranus albocristatus cassini (Finsch, 1903) – from Nigeria east to Uganda and south to Angola.
• Tropicranus albocristatus macrourus (Bonaparte, 1850) – Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Range

The white-crested hornbill has a large range in Africa, occurring in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Uganda. It is frequent in parts of its range. Although its population is difficult to estimate, it is not thought to be threatened.

Gallery

• White-crested Hornbill SMTC.jpg

  At San Diego Zoo

• Tropicranus albocristatus -Central Park Zoo, New York, USA-8a.jpg

  At Central Park Zoo, USA