Double-toothed barbet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Double-toothed barbet |
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| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Lybiidae |
| Genus: | Pogonornis |
| Species: |
P. bidentatus
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| Binomial name | |
| Pogonornis bidentatus (Shaw, 1799)
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| Synonyms | |
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Contents
The double-toothed barbet (scientific name: Pogonornis bidentatus) is a colorful bird. It belongs to the Lybiidae family, which includes many types of barbets. You can find this bird in many countries across Africa. These include Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. They also live in the Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, and Equatorial Guinea. Other homes are Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, and Nigeria. You can also spot them in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.
There are two slightly different types, or subspecies, of the double-toothed barbet. These are called Lybius bidentatus bidentatus and Lybius bidentatus aequatorialis.
What Does the Double-Toothed Barbet Look Like?
The double-toothed barbet is a striking bird with black and red feathers. It has a large, off-white beak. The skin around its eyes is bright yellow. The top part of its body is black. It also has a small patch of white feathers on its back.
Its chest is a vibrant red. On its sides, it has a white patch. Male and female barbets look very similar. However, females have thin black lines on their white side patches. Young barbets, called juveniles, are not as colorful. Their feathers are a dull dark grey.
What Does a Double-Toothed Barbet Sound Like?
The song of the double-toothed barbet sounds a bit like a cat's purr. Sometimes, a pair of these barbets will sing together. This is a special way they communicate.
Where Do Double-Toothed Barbets Live?
Double-toothed barbets usually live in thick forests. They prefer the lower parts of the trees, called the understory. You can often find them at the edges of woodlands. They also live in forests near rivers, known as riparian forest. Sometimes, they live in forests that have grown back after being cut down, called secondary forest.
Some double-toothed barbets might even visit gardens. There, they look for fruit to eat. It can be tricky to tell them apart from other barbets. They are most often confused with the black-breasted barbet or the bearded barbet. When they fly, they don't look very graceful.
What Do Double-Toothed Barbets Eat?
The double-toothed barbet eats both fruits and insects. They search for food among the leaves. They usually stay below ten meters from the ground. For insects, they enjoy beetles, termites, ants, and bugs called Hemiptera. They find these insects on tree bark or in clumps of leaves.
Sometimes, a double-toothed barbet will catch flying ants or termites while it's in the air. They also love fruits like figs, papayas, and avocados. They eat fruits from the umbrella tree (Musanga) and from Solanum plants. These barbets will even eat the seeds from some fruits.
How Do Double-Toothed Barbets Behave?
You will usually find double-toothed barbets in pairs. Sometimes, they live in small family groups. These groups might include "helpers," which are other birds that assist the parents. It's rare to see a double-toothed barbet by itself. They have large areas that they consider their home, called territories.
Where Do Double-Toothed Barbets Sleep?
Double-toothed barbets sleep together in groups. All the barbets in a group will roost, or sleep, in the same hole. They make their nests by digging into a tree. Often, they choose a tree that is rotting. They usually make their nests more than two meters off the ground.
Both the male and female barbet will dig out the nesting hole. They both also work to protect their nest. The entrance to the nest is round, and it's usually five centimeters or more across. Some nests even have a short tunnel leading to the main chamber. A nest can be up to 46 centimeters deep.
How Do Double-Toothed Barbets Raise Their Young?
When a male double-toothed barbet wants to attract a female, he performs a special dance. He swings his tail and body around. He also shows off the white feather patches on his sides. The male and female birds will preen each other, which means they clean each other's feathers. They also fly back and forth. The male might tap a nest entrance to show the female where it is.
Double-toothed barbets can breed all year long. The female lays between two and four white eggs. The eggs hatch after about 13 days. When the babies first hatch, the adult birds feed them insects. Later, they mostly feed them fruit. The parents and any helper birds remove the waste from the nest. The young barbets are ready to fly out of the nest after 37 to 39 days.
 | Sharif Bey |
 | Hale Woodruff |
 | Richmond Barthé |
 | Purvis Young |
