Ground-hornbill

Taxobox
name = Ground-hornbill


image_caption = Southern Ground Hornbill
("Bucorvus leadbeateri")
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Coraciiformes
familia = Bucerotidae
subfamilia = Bucorvinae
genus = "Bucorvus"
genus_authority = Lesson, 1830
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Bucorvus leadbeateri" "Bucorvus abyssinicus"

The Ground-hornbills (Bucorvinae) are a subfamily of the hornbill family Bucerotidae, with a single genus "Bucorvus" and two extant species:

* Abyssinian Ground-hornbill "Bucorvus abyssinicus" (also known as Northern Ground-hornbill)
* Southern Ground-hornbill "Bucorvus leadbeateri"

The subfamily is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa - Abyssinian Ground-hornbill being found in a belt from Senegal east to Ethiopia, with Southern Ground-hornbill occurring in the south and east of the continent.

A prehistoric ground-hornbill, "Bucorvus brailloni", has been described from fossil bones.

Ground hornbills are large, with adults around a metre tall. Both species are ground-dwelling, unlike other hornbills. They can be very long-livedFact|date=May 2007. Some ornithologists consider the hornbills a distinct order Bucerotiformes and raise the Ground-hornbills to family level (Bucorvidae) on account of their distinctness.