A pair of hornbills that frequent one coffee shop at Loyang Industrial Park has become an online sensation after a video of their antics went viral.

https://mothership.sg/2020/11/hornbills-fed-banana-loyang-coffee-shop/

The pair of hornbills were caught eating food scraps and were fed with bananas at said coffee shop.

Hornbills are regulars at the Loyang coffee shop

According to the Chinese daily, Lianhe Zaobao, the hornbills were regular patrons at the coffee shop for the past few months.

It started at around the Circuit Breaker period, and there were initially three to five of them.

More recently, only the two hornbills will come to the coffee shop as seen in the video.

The hawkers and regular patrons are familiar with these hornbills.

Some people would even come to the coffee shop just to see these majestic looking birds.

Won't leave without a free meal

Zaobao also spoke to a 48-year-old dish collector, Tan, who uses his own money to buy bananas for the hornbills.

He was spotted feeding bananas to them in the video.

According to Tan, the hornbills are unlike the mynahs and sparrows.

They do not swoop into the coffee shop to disturb patrons and eat food scraps that are in the coffee shop.

Instead, the duo wait obediently at one of the tables at the outdoor seating for the free meal, Tan told Zaobao.

"A customer told me this type of birds eat fruits. They will leave after they are done eating," Tan said.

Tan did not expect that feeding hornbills become part of his daily routine, but if the hornbills do not get their bananas, they will not leave.

That leads him to prepare two bananas for the uninvited guests daily.

Some viewers are amused by the sight, while others are concerned that the constant feeding would alter the wild birds' behaviour which can lead to human-wildlife conflict in the future.

Why feeding wild animals can have negative consequences

While Tan might find it difficult to leave the hornbills disappointed, this routine can cause the wild birds to see humans as a source of food.

Acres explains that once the hornbills get used to being fed, they might approach any human (not just Tan) for food.

As they grow comfortable with people, through daily interaction with Tan for example, this could lead to unwanted human-wildlife conflict when the duo approaches strangers who are not prepared to give them food at all.

Feeding has resulted in rogue macaques and aggressive boars, encounters with which Singaporeans are not unfamiliar.

The truth is, hornbills in Singapore have an abundance of food to consume.

As omnivores, they prey on small birds, reptiles, and fruits in the wild. As they consume fruits in the wild, they perform an important ecological function as seed dispersers too.

That is why Acres urges people to not feed hornbills (and any wild animals) and appreciating them from a distance.

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Top image via screengrabs of Facebook video