Red-billed curassow
Red-billed curassow | |
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Male | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Galliformes |
Family: | Cracidae |
Genus: | Crax |
Species: | C. blumenbachii
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Binomial name | |
Crax blumenbachii Spix, 1825
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The red-billed curassow or red-knobbed curassow (Crax blumenbachii) is an
Description
The red-billed curassow is a large bird reaching a length of 82 to 92 centimetres (32 to 36 in). The male has pure black upper parts with a large black crest, and white underparts. There are bright red wattles and knobs at the base of the bill. The male can be distinguished from the wattled curassow (Crax globulosa) by being less bluish-black and from the black curassow (Crax alector) by being less purplish-black. The female lacks the wattles and has black upper parts, a black and white barred crest, reddish-brown wings barred and mottled with black, and reddish-brown or ochre underparts.[4]
Behaviour
The red-billed curassow is a largely ground-dwelling bird. It feeds on seeds, fruits, buds and small invertebrates. Males can be heard issuing their loud "booms" in September and October. Females lay a clutch of one to four eggs and the young are fledged by the end of the year.[1]
Status
The red-billed curassow has a very limited range in eastern Brazil and populations there are declining because of habitat loss and hunting. The virgin forest in which it lives has largely been converted to agricultural land and plantations, and the bird is only present now in reserves, and even here it is illegally hunted and captured for the bird trade. There has been a successful captive breeding programme but the International Union for Conservation of Nature rates its conservation status in the wild as "endangered".[1]
References
- ^ . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
- ^ Plano de Ação para a Conservação do Mutum-do-sudeste Crax blumenbachii (Management Plan for the Conservation of the Southeastern Curassow Crax blumenbachii) IBAMA. Accessed 2008-10-02
- ^ National Geographic Brasil, ISSN 1517-7211, February 2007, pg.22
- ISBN 978-0-226-05641-8.