These Hornbills at the Prospect Park Zoo Date Just like Humans, then Mate for Life

Photo: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

These beautiful wreathed hornbills can now be seen year-round at the Prospect Park Zoo.

The zoo tells us that hornbills mate for life, and that the pair see above are bonded together.

The new exhibit was created to provide a home "conducive to breeding with hopes that they produce offspring in the future," the zoo says.

Prospect Park Zoo staff says it's looking pretty good -- they have already witnessed "courtship behavior" between the two, "with the male making food offerings to the female."

Just like humans on a date!

A few drinks might speed the process. Just saying.

The pair at the Prospect Park Zoo are in their twenties. Wreathed hornbills live to about 40 years in the wild and have been known to live into their 50s in zoos.


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