In which of the following regions of India are you most likely to come across the 'Great Indian Hornbill' in its natural habitat?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) Western Ghats
The Great (Indian) Hornbill is a bird of tall, evergreen tropical forests: it feeds largely on fruit and nests in cavities of big old trees. In India such forests occur in the Western Ghats and the north-east; deserts, the treeless high Himalayas and salt marshes offer neither food nor nest sites.
- ✓ (d) The Kerala Forest Department records the Great Indian Hornbill in the evergreen forests of the State, in the Western Ghats, and it is Kerala's State bird.
- ✗ (b) The higher Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir are cold and largely treeless above the forest line, with no tropical evergreen forest.
- ✗ (a) The Thar sand desert has scrub vegetation, not the large, old trees hornbills need for nesting.
Remember · Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis): evergreen forests of the Western Ghats and north-east India; nests in holes of big old trees; State bird of Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 9 Exploration, Ch 12 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- Kerala Forest Department: Biodiversity - Fauna ↗ “Found in the evergreen forests of the valleys, they are omnivores that feed on fruits, lizards, snakes and small animals including insects. Great Indian Hornbill is our State bird.”
- NCERT Class 9 · Exploration, Chapter 12 “Pakke is also known for supporting four species of hornbills — the Rufous-necked Hornbill, the Oriental Pied Hornbill, the Great Hornbill, and the Wreathed Hornbill”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·