BACKGROUND Hornbills are known to play an important role in rainforests as agents of seed dispersal. Decades of scientific research has led to a vital body of knowledge on hornbill taxonomy, ecology, distribution, and conservation status. However, the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that local people possess on hornbills has largely been underexplored. In 2018, we collaborated with the Iban people of Temburong, Brunei Darussalam, to study their TEK on hornbills. METHOD We collaborated with the members of the Iban community from four longhouses and four villages in Temburong, Brunei Darussalam. Our study adopts a qualitative approach; we used detailed semi-directive interviews and brief semi-structured interviews to gather data. The semi-directive interviews documented the TEK related to Hornbills in detail while the brief semi-structured interviews assessed the current status of TEK in the age group of 18-40 years. RESULTS The results show that the Iban ethnotaxonomy recognises seven folk species of hornbills, with Asian Black Hornbill (Anthracoceros malayanus) and Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) considered as a single folk species. The Iban TEK on diet and reproductive behaviour of hornbills complement existing scientific records, with the Iban TEK providing additional locale-specific information on the dietary preferences, abundance and conservation threats. However, the average Iban member has lost much of this TEK, and it is the subsistence hunters and agriculturists who have conserved it. CONCLUSION There is an urgent need for encouraging transmission of knowledge from the hunters and agriculturists to others through ecotourism and conservation ventures. Our study adds further support to the understanding that the TEK of local communities is an important source of locale-specific knowledge on species of high conservation value such as hornbills.

中文翻译：

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当种子发芽时，犀鸟会孵化：了解犀鸟上文莱达鲁萨兰国伊班人的传统生态知识。

背景技术众所周知，犀鸟作为种子传播的媒介在雨林中起着重要的作用。数十年的科学研究导致了关于犀鸟分类学，生态学，分布和保护状况的重要知识体系。但是，当地人对犀鸟拥有的传统生态知识（TEK）在很大程度上尚未得到开发。2018年，我们与汶莱的Temburong的伊班人合作，研究了犀鸟的TEK。方法我们与文莱达鲁萨兰国Temburong的四个长屋和四个村庄的Iban社区成员进行了合作。我们的研究采用定性方法。我们使用了详细的半定向访谈和简短的半结构化访谈来收集数据。半定向访谈详细记录了与犀鸟相关的TEK，而简短的半结构化访谈则评估了18-40岁年龄组中TEK的现状。结果结果表明，伊班人种学识别七种犀鸟，其中亚洲黑犀鸟（Anthracoceros malayanus）和东方染色犀鸟（Anthracoceros albirostris）被视为单一民间物种。关于犀鸟饮食和生殖行为的Iban TEK补充了现有的科学记录，Iban TEK还提供了有关饮食偏爱，丰度和保护威胁的其他特定于地区的信息。然而，普通的伊班族成员已经失去了这一TEK的大部分，而自给自足的猎人和农业学家才得以保护它。结论迫切需要通过生态旅游和保护事业鼓励猎人和农业专家向其他人传播知识。我们的研究为以下理解提供了进一步的支持，即当地社区的TEK是对具有高保护价值的物种（例如犀鸟）的特定场所知识的重要来源。