Cauca Guan
Encyclopedia
The Cauca Guan, Penelope perspicax is a bird
in the chachalaca
, guan
and curassow
family
Cracidae
.
This species occurs on the west slopes of the West and Central Andes
of Colombia
. These are large birds, 76 cm in length, and similar in general appearance to turkeys
, with thin necks and small heads. They are forest birds, and the nest is built in a tree.
This bird has drab plumage, with a red dewlap
. It is dull brownish-grey, with mainly chestnut rear parts and tail. It has heavily whitish-scaled feather edges from head to mantle and breast.
The Cauca Guan’s call is, like other guans, a loud, raucous honking.
This bird is endangered due to a severe loss of suitable habitat, and is also hunted for food. The current population estimate is less than one thousand individuals.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in the chachalaca
Chachalaca
Chachalacas are mainly brown birds from the genus Ortalis. These cracids are found in wooded habitats in far southern United States , Mexico, and Central and South America. They are social, can be very noisy and often remain fairly common even near humans, as their relatively small size makes them...
, guan
Guan (bird)
The guans are a number of bird genera which make up the largest group in the family Cracidae. They are found mainly in northern South America, southern Central America, and a few adjacent Caribbean islands...
and curassow
Curassow
Curassows are one of the three major groups of cracid birds. Three of the four genera are restricted to tropical South America; a single species of Crax ranges north to Mexico...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Cracidae
Cracidae
The chachalacas, guans and curassows are birds in the family Cracidae.These are species of tropical and subtropical Central and South America. One species, the Plain Chachalaca, just reaches southernmost Texas in the USA...
.
This species occurs on the west slopes of the West and Central Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
of Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. These are large birds, 76 cm in length, and similar in general appearance to turkeys
Turkey (bird)
A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
, with thin necks and small heads. They are forest birds, and the nest is built in a tree.
This bird has drab plumage, with a red dewlap
Dewlap
A dewlap is a longitudinal flap of skin that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck of many vertebrates. While the term is usually used in this specific context, it can also be used to include other structures occurring in the same body area with a similar aspect, such as those caused by a double...
. It is dull brownish-grey, with mainly chestnut rear parts and tail. It has heavily whitish-scaled feather edges from head to mantle and breast.
The Cauca Guan’s call is, like other guans, a loud, raucous honking.
This bird is endangered due to a severe loss of suitable habitat, and is also hunted for food. The current population estimate is less than one thousand individuals.