The Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus), also known as the lesser pied hornbill, is a bird in the hornbill family, a family of tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World.
The Malabar pied hornbill is a large hornbill, at 65 cm (26 in) in length. It has mainly black plumage, apart from its white belly, throat patch, tail sides and trailing edge to the wings. The bill is yellow with a large, mainly black casque. Females have white orbital skin, which the males lack. Juveniles have no casque. It might be confused with the oriental pied hornbill. They weigh around 1 kg (2.2 pounds).
The Malabar pied hornbill is a common resident breeder in India and Sri Lanka. Its habitat is evergreen and moist deciduous forests, often near human settlements. It is distributed across three main regions within the Indian sub-continent: Central and Eastern India, along the Western Ghats, and in Sri Lanka. In Central and Eastern India, it ranges from western West Bengal through parts of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, northern and eastern Maharashtra, northern Andhra Pradesh, and north-east tip of Telangana. Along the Western Ghats, the species is distributed in pockets along the eastern slopes and in the Konkan belt and west coast from western Maharashtra through Goa, western Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and in Kerala. In Sri Lanka, the species occurs mainly in the low country and dry zone forests as well as home gardens.
The Malabar pied hornbill exhibits fascinating breeding behaviour. The female lays two to three white eggs in a tree hole, which is then sealed with a mixture of mud, droppings, and fruit pulp, leaving only a narrow aperture. Through this opening, the male provides food to the female and the chicks. Once the chicks grow, the female breaks out to assist in feeding them.
The oriental pied hornbill is similar in appearance but can be differentiated by careful observation of the birds' distinct physical characteristics.
An omnivorous bird, the Malabar pied hornbill's diet consists of fruits, small mammals, birds, small reptiles, and insects. Figs are a staple, making up a significant portion of their diet, especially outside the breeding season. They also consume other fruits, including those of the Strychnos nux-vomica, which are toxic to many vertebrates.
