biology

Western long-tailed hornbill

Western long-tailed hornbill is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Western long-tailed hornbill rather than just read about it. In short: The western long-tailed hornbill (Horizocerus albocristatus) is a species of hornbill (family Bucerotidae) found in humid forests of West Africa. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the eastern long-tailed hornbill (Horizocerus cassini) with the English name "white-crested hornbill".

Key takeaways

Western long-tailed hornbill belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Western long-tailed hornbill to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Western long-tailed hornbill from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The western long-tailed hornbill (Horizocerus albocristatus) is a species of hornbill (family Bucerotidae) found in humid forests of West Africa. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the eastern long-tailed hornbill (Horizocerus cassini) with the English name "white-crested hornbill".

Taxonomy The western long-tailed hornbill was formally described in 1848 by the American ornithologist John Cassin based on a specimen that had been collected near the Saint Paul River in Liberia. He coined the binomial name Buceros albocristatus. The specific epithet combines the Latin albus meaning "white" with cristatus meaning "crested" or "plumed". The species is now placed in the genus Horizocerus that was introduced in 1899 by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser. The western long-tailed hornbill was formerly considered to be conspecific with the eastern long-tailed hornbill (Horizocerus cassini) with the English name "white-crested hornbill". There are two subspecies, which differ primarily in the amount of white to their head and neck and the presence or absence of white tips to the wing-coverts:

H. a. albocristatus (Cassin, 1848) – Guinea to west Ivory Coast H. a. macrourus (Bonaparte, 1850) – east Ivory Coast to Benin

Distribution and habitat The western long-tailed hornbill has a large range in West Africa, occurring from southern Sierra Leone, east to Benin including Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Togo. It is frequent in parts of its range. Although its population is difficult to estimate, it is not thought to be threatened.

Gallery

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Western long-tailed hornbill

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Western long-tailed hornbill claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Western long-tailed hornbill before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Western long-tailed hornbill ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Western long-tailed hornbill

In research: Western long-tailed hornbill appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Western long-tailed hornbill in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Western long-tailed hornbill is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1848, Birds of West Africa, Bucerotiformes stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Western long-tailed hornbill outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Western long-tailed hornbill in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Western long-tailed hornbill means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Western long-tailed hornbill out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Western long-tailed hornbill in simple terms?

Why does Western long-tailed hornbill matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Western long-tailed hornbill?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Western long-tailed hornbill.