The bill also helps to prepare slimy food like snails and frogs by rubbing them on the ground. Hornbills show considerable variation in size. The family is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa: the Abyssinian ground hornbill occurs in a belt from Senegal east to Ethiopia, and the southern ground hornbill occurs in southern and East Africa.. Diet in the wild consists of a wide variety of small vertebrates and invertebrates, including tortoises, lizards, snakes, birds, spiders, beetles, and caterpillars; they also take carrion, some fruits, seeds, and groundnuts. The southern ground hornbill spends most of its time slowly walking around with a group in search of food. They stand 90-100cm (35-59in) tall. Southern ground hornbills are predominantly carnivorous, feeding on reptiles like snakes as well as tortoises, frogs, toads, snails, insects, or mammals like rodents or even small monkeys. Groups of ground hornbills have territories of 2–100 square miles (5.2–259.0 km 2). Males weigh between 3.5 and 6.1kg (7.7-13.6lb) while females are smaller at between 2.2kg and 4.6kg (4.9-10lb). Some are known to supplement their diets with fruit or seeds and even some carrion. Southern ground hornbills are the largest of the hornbills. The ground hornbills (Bucorvidae) are a family of the order Bucerotiformes, with a single genus Bucorvus and two extant species.
Generally Southern Ground-Hornbill will eat anything they can overpower, however, their diet usually consists of invertebrates, reptiles, rodents and amphibians. The smallest species is the black dwarf … DIET. Their grey bill may be between 19 and 22cm (0.6-0.7ft) long … Diet: The African ground hornbill's food consists largely of small vertebrates and larger insects, although they sometimes use their pick-like bills to subdue prey as large as hares, tortoises, snakes and squirrels.
Diet and Nutrition. Southern ground hornbills are carnivores and feed on reptiles, frogs, snails, insects and small mammals such as hares and squirrels. They will occasionally consume some fruit and seeds. Ground hornbills are large, with adults around a metre tall.