Pauxi pauxi pauxi

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Vernacular names
English : Helmeted curassow
French : Hocco à pierre

Classification
Class : Aves
Order : Galliformes
Family : Cracidae
Notes : 1 other subspecies known.

Identification
Adults can grow up to 92 cm in length for a weight of 3.7 kg. Both sexes show small but thick bright red bill and fig-shaped blue casque on forehead. Plumage is black except from white rump. Some females show brown flanks.

Range and habitat
The species occurs in South America, as patchy populations in north and western Venezuela and adjacent northern Colombia. Lives in very dense and humid cloud forests and montane forests, to 2000 m.

Conservation
IUCN RED LIST : ENDANGERED
CITES : Appendix III
Status : The species is in serious decline in most of its range because of hunting and deforestation. Now legally protected but still in precarious situation.
Ex-Situ Programs : SSP in America

Observation
Houston Zoo (USA), Dallas World Aquarium (USA), Zoo Antwerpen (Belgium), SARL C. Roels (France)

 

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