Intense international exploitation of African hornbills necessitates urgent conservation measures, including CITES listing

Unchecked international trade in wildlife threatens biodiversity globally. The major mechanism for regulating this trade is listing species in the appendices of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. However, piecemeal protection of species in decline can displace demand onto similar, unprotected species. In this study, we consider the case of the hornbills (Bucorvidae and Bucerotidae). Most Asian hornbills received CITES protection in 1992, while international trade in African hornbills remains unregulated and under-documented. We analyzed data collected by the US Fish & Wildlife Service on 573 shipments of at least 2704 hornbills from 1999 to 2024. African species accounted for 94.5 % of traded hornbills. Trade in African hornbills has increased significantly over time, unlike the trade volume of Asian hornbills, which has remained constant under CITES management. Larger forest hornbill skulls are often sold online as oddities, while the smaller species are advertised as pets. Current US trade in the larger African genera Ceratogymna and Bycanistes likely exceeds global trade in all Asian hornbills prior to their CITES protection. Trade in the already Vulnerable Yellow-casqued Hornbill and Brown-cheeked Hornbill currently poses an existential threat to these species. However, every African genus of hornbill is traded internationally. To avoid shifting demand onto a few remaining unprotected species, and to ensure that forest hornbills continue to play their critical ecological role as seed dispersers, we call for CITES parties to list the hornbill families in Appendix II at the next Conference of the Parties.