The white-crested guan (''Penelope pileata'') is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, and

curassow Curassows are one of the three major groups of cracid birds. They comprise the largest-bodied species of the cracid family. Three of the four genera are restricted to tropical South America; a single species of ''Crax'' ranges north to Mexico. ...

s. It is found only in regions of the eastern

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

of Brazil. The species is restricted to the southern riverbank of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

; also eastwards, the south bank of the

Pará River The Pará River (), also called Parauaú River, Jacaré Grande River, Marajó River Channel, Macacos River Channel, Ribeirão Santa Maria, Santa Maria River Channel and Bocas Bay, is a watercourse and immense Estuary, estuarine complex that fun ...

south of Marajó Island at the Amazon River's outlet. Its natural habitat is

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

. It is threatened by habitat destruction and in 2012, the species was recategorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, its conservation status being raised to

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

Description

The white-crested guan is a large bird and grows to a length of about . It has a long crest of white feathers which gives it its name, bluish cheeks, black upper parts glossed with green, dark reddish-brown underparts and a long black tail. The voice is a raucous cackle, "eh-uh" or "u u u u u".

Distribution and habitat

The white-crested guan is endemic to Brazil. Its range is limited to the south-central and southeastern parts of the Amazon basin, although it just extends across the

Rio Araguaia The Araguaia River ( pt, Rio Araguaia , Karajá: ♂ ''Berohokỹ'' eɾohoˈkə̃ ♀ ''Bèrakuhukỹ'' ɛɾakuhuˈkə̃ is one of the major rivers of Brazil though it is almost equal in volume at its confluence with the Tocantins. It has a total ...

into the Cerrado ecoregion. Its habitat is tropical forest, mostly dense, solid-ground forest, but it sometimes also occurs in seasonally-flooded areas.

Status

The greatest threat faced by the white-crested guan is destruction of its rainforest habitat. As increasing amounts of forest are cleared and converted into agricultural land and cattle ranches, suitable habitat is reduced. The bird is intolerant of this and populations are fragmenting and declining. It is also hunted for food and captured for the aviary trade, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has raised its conservation status to

References

External links

White-crested Guan videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

VIREO ttp://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Penelope+pileata Photo-High Res* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071025104221/http://www.tropicalbirding.com/images/neotropics/brasil/brazilintoamazon/wcguan.jpg Photo-High Res
1850s illustration by A. Prévost
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1259727 white-crested guan Birds of the Brazilian Amazon Endemic birds of Brazil white-crested guan Taxa named by Johann Georg Wagler Taxonomy articles created by Polbot