Climate change victim: Kalahari bird

Context

The southern yellow-billed hornbill has been unable to reproduce successfully, and its population has since plummeted.

Key Findings of the Study

Climate change has been causing havoc on a variety of animals for quite some time. Some have even become extinct.
It is currently affecting the southern yellow-billed hornbill (Tockus leucomelas), which lives in southern Africa's Kalahari Desert.
According to recent research, rising temperatures may cause the hornbill to vanish from sections of the Kalahari by 2027.

How climate change is taking a toll on the species?

In the Kalahari, air temperatures have already risen by more than 2°C in recent decades. At the current rate, by 2027, these birds will no longer reproduce at this location.
The hornbills failed to reproduce when the daily maximum temperature exceeded 35.7 degrees Celsius (96.3 Fahrenheit).
When comparing the first three monitoring seasons (2008-2011) to the final three (2016-2019), the average proportion of nest boxes occupied fell from 52% to 12%.
Nest success, defined as a breeding effort that successfully raises at least one chick, decreased from 58% to 17%.
Fledglings generated in each breeding attempt decreased from 1.1 to 0.4.

About

The bird is well known for its peculiar mating and nesting behaviors, in which the female shuts herself within a hole for around 50 days to brood and care for their chicks.
They eat insects, spiders, and scorpions, as well as seeds they locate on the ground.
The southern yellow-billed hornbill has a similar appearance to its sister species, the red-billed hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus).

Distribution:

Continents: Africa
Countries: South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Regions: Eswatini
Biogeographical realms: Afrotropical

Kalahari Desert:

The Kalahari Desert is a vast semi-arid sandy savannah in southern Africa that encompasses much of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.
The Kalahari Desert is a featureless, gradually sloping, sandy plain.
Bedrock is only visible in low, vertical-walled hills known as kopjes, which seldom but prominently rise above the surrounding surface.
People: The Kalahari Desert is inhabited primarily by Bantu speakers and Khoisan-speaking San, with a small number of Europeans.