What Can the Hornbills Teach Us About Sharing?
We would like to tell a few stories about sharing. First, we have a friend who works at a zoo who recently told us about the hornbills. They are very exotic birds that come from tropical forests in Thailand, Malaysia, India and Africa. The hornbills are extremely interesting because they have monogamous relationships that last for life. The main reason for this is that their reproduction process requires the female hornbill to trust the male hornbill to feed her for 4 ½ months during the incubation period of her eggs. Before mating, he offers her a food gift (an insect or a fruit). The nest is usually made in a tree hole. She, in fact, muds herself into it! She closes her nest completely with mud and dung and leaves open only enough space for her partner to give her food through this opening during the time she is inside the nest. Can you imagine that Mr Hornbill can bring up to 24,000 fruits for Mrs Hornbill during the whole period of nesting? Wow! After 4 months, Mrs. Hornbill tears
