Great blue turaco
Great blue turaco | |
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In Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda | |
Call recorded at Kakamega, Kenya | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Musophagiformes |
Family: | Musophagidae |
Genus: | Corythaeola Heine, 1860 |
Species: | C. cristata
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Binomial name | |
Corythaeola cristata (Vieillot, 1816)
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The great blue turaco (Corythaeola cristata) is a
Taxonomy
French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot described the great blue turaco as Musophaga cristata in 1816,[3] before German ornithologist Ferdinand Heine placed it in its own genus in 1860.
The great blue turaco is the sole member of the subfamily
"Great blue turaco" has been designated the official common name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).[5] It is also called blue plantain eater.[6]
Description
Generally, the great blue turaco is 70–76 cm (28–30 in) in length with a mass of 800–1,231 g (1.764–2.714 lb).[7] The adult great blue turaco has predominantly gray-blue upperparts with an upright blue-black crest, white chin, yellow-green lower breast and yellow belly darkening to chestnut brown posteriorly. The undertail coverts are chestnut, and the undertail is black and yellowish. The yellow bill has an orange-red tip, the eyes are brown, and surrounded by a ring of black bare skin. The legs and feet are black with yellow soles. The sexes have similar plumage.[6]
Distribution and habitat
The species ranges from Guinea in the west, and east across the sub-Saharan nations to the Imatong Mountains in South Sudan; it also occurs in Uganda, Tanzania and western Kenya, south to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. It inhabits rainforests and gallery forests. It has also adapted to areas cleared by humans and can thrive in these areas.[6]
Behaviour
The great blue turaco is gregarious, with birds forming small troops of some six or seven individuals.[6]
Feeding
The great blue turaco eats leaves, flowers, as well as fruit of many plant species, including those of the genera
Breeding
The species nests in trees between 8 and 25 metres (26 and 82 ft) above the ground, and the nest is a platform of sticks. Both sexes incubate the clutch of two (rarely one or three) eggs over 29–31 days. The eggs are white or greenish-white and almost round, measuring 46–50 mm by 41–43 mm (1.8–2.0 in by 1.6–1.7 in).[6]
Interactions with humans
Highly regarded as food in West Africa, it is often hunted and eaten by local people.[6] The BaMbala and related tribes around the town of Kikwit in the DRC, call the great blue turaco kolonvo. The meat is popular in smaller villages, and the long tail feathers are prized for decorations. The Mbuti people of the Ituri Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo consider the great blue turaco (which they call kulkoko) to be associated with okapis, which they would warn of danger by calling loudly.[10][11] They also believe that eating the species while pregnant may result in a difficult delivery or birth deformity. It is also a clan totem animal and as such, cannot be eaten by members of that clan; if they do eat it their teeth are said to fall out.[11]
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Illustration in H. H. Johnston (1895)
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Captive specimen
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Captive specimen at San Diego Zoo, California
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A pair atKibale Forest, Uganda
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Captive specimen at Sedgwick County Zoo, Kansas
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In Uganda
References
- ^ Jones, David. "Great Blue Turaco". turacos.org. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1816). Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire (in French). Paris: Deterville/self. p. 68.
- S2CID 214763342.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2021). "Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse". World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
- ^ ISBN 9781472986535.
- ISBN 978-0-8493-4258-5.
- JSTOR 4089241.
- S2CID 30149262.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of May 2024 (link - ^ Terashima, Hideaki (November 2003). "The status of birds in the natural world of the Ituri forest hunter-gatherers" (PDF). Le symbolisme des animaux. IRD Éditions. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
- ^ doi:10.14989/68390.
External links
- Media related to Corythaeola cristata at Wikimedia Commons