Trinidad Piping-guan
Encyclopedia
The Trinidad Piping Guan, Pipile pipile, is a bird
in the chachalaca, guan and curassow family
Cracidae
.
This species is found only in Trinidad
; it is close to extinction
. They are large birds, 60 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
. Three large white eggs
are laid, the female alone incubating
. This arboreal species feeds on fruit
and berries.
Pipile pipile is mainly black with a purple gloss. The large crest is blackish, edged with white, and there are large white wing patches. The bare face and wattle
are blue, and the legs are red.
The Trinidad Piping Guan's call is a thin piping. The wings whirr in flight.
island range in more recent times. The holotype
of this species was supposedly collected in the "Orinoco River [region] near Cumaná
" (del Hoyo 1994a,b). This locality has usually been considered erroneous. However, as it indicates an area on the mainland roughly opposite Trinidad, it might actually be correct and indicate that the Trinidad Piping Guan was not extirpated from Venezuela
until around 1800. In South America, the form cumanensis has a greenish gloss to the plumage, a white face and crest, and a blue wattle, cujubi has a blue face and a red wattle, and jacutinga has a black face and a red wattle."
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, guan and curassow 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 is found only in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
; it is close to extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. They are large birds, 60 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
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
birds, and the nest
Bird nest
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the...
is built in a tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
. Three large white eggs
Bird egg
Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...
are laid, the female alone incubating
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
. This arboreal species feeds on fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and berries.
Pipile pipile is mainly black with a purple gloss. The large crest is blackish, edged with white, and there are large white wing patches. The bare face and wattle
Wattle
Wattle may refer to:*Wattle , a fleshy growth hanging from the head or neck of certain animals.*Wattle is another term for Congenital cartilaginous rest of the neck...
are blue, and the legs are red.
The Trinidad Piping Guan's call is a thin piping. The wings whirr in flight.
Taxonomy
Data confirms that the other blue-wattled species, the Blue-throated Piping Guan, is the Trinidad species' closest living relative. Interestingly, the same data suggests that these diverged some 400.000 years ago at latest, perhaps as early as 1.6 mya, whereas Trinidad has been an island only since the end of the last ice age. This indicates that the Trinidad Piping Guan evolved in mainland South America, being driven to its relictRelict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....
island range in more recent times. The holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
of this species was supposedly collected in the "Orinoco River [region] near Cumaná
Cumaná
Cumaná is the capital of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located 402 km east of Caracas. It was the first settlement founded by Europeans in the mainland America, in 1501 by Franciscan friars, but due to successful attacks by the indigenous people, it had to be refounded several times...
" (del Hoyo 1994a,b). This locality has usually been considered erroneous. However, as it indicates an area on the mainland roughly opposite Trinidad, it might actually be correct and indicate that the Trinidad Piping Guan was not extirpated from Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
until around 1800. In South America, the form cumanensis has a greenish gloss to the plumage, a white face and crest, and a blue wattle, cujubi has a blue face and a red wattle, and jacutinga has a black face and a red wattle."
External links
- BirdLife Species Factsheet.
- ARKiveARKiveARKive is a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery", which it does by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the world's species into a centralised digital archive. Its...
: images and movies of the Trinidad piping guan (Aburria pipile). Retrieved 2007-FEB-26.