Lonely Hornbill Shares Food With Zoo Visitors, Thinking They're His Late Lover
Pluto's an 'acts of service'-type lover.
By Celine Low — 11 Mar 2025, 03:07 PM
Pluto, a great hornbill in Chiang Mai Zoo, has gained social media's attention for its unique love language: sharing its food with visitors
In a video shared by user @earnny.pl on 23 February, the 23-year-old great hornbill is seen generously offering small pieces of what appear to be fruits to her and friends while they were visiting the zoo's hornbill exhibit.
The video captures Pluto's endearing behaviour: gathering small pieces of food, tilting his head slightly as he brings them to the tip of his beak, and hopping around to share his finds.
Since the video was posted, it has accumulated over 1.4 million views and 149,000 likes on Instagram.
Turns out, Pluto the hornbill may be looking for his next lover, after having lost his beloved mate, Neptune, who passed away some time ago
According to the Chiang Mai Zoo, hornbills naturally form lifelong bonds with their mates.
"This is a natural phenomenon because hornbills live in pairs. The male finds food to eat and then regurgitates the food and feeds it to the female," Wuttichai Muangman, Director of Chiang Mai Zoo said.
Pluto has reportedly been displaying such behaviour every day since mid-February.
"From our observation, we know that Pluto shows his affection by feeding visitors because he may think that the people visiting him are his partner, Neptune, because he had become accustomed to feeding her all along," said hornbill breeder Somsak Jaipuang.
