Wattled Curassow

About the Wattled Curassow

The wattled curassow (Crax globulosa) is a threatened member of the family Cracidae, the curassows, guans, and chachalacas. It is found in remote rainforests in the western Amazon basin in South America. Males have black plumage, except for a white crissum (the area around the cloaca), with curly feathers on the head and red bill ornaments and wattles. Females and juveniles are similar but lack the bill ornamentation and have a reddish-buff crissum area. The wattled curassow is sister to other southern Crax curassows. In captivity, it sometimes hybridises with the blue-billed curassow.

The habitat of the wattled curassow is gallery forests and seasonally-flooded forests where it feeds in small groups on the ground. The diet is largely fruit, but invertebrates and some small vertebrates are opportunistically taken. Little is known of its breeding habits, but it is known that the nest is built of sticks and leaves and two eggs are usually laid. The population of this species is declining. It is threatened by loss of habitat, as the rainforest is progressively cleared, and by hunting, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as "endangered... Wikipedia →