The red-billed curassow or red-knobbed curassow (''Crax blumenbachii'') is an

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

species of

cracid The chachalacas, guans and curassows are birds in the family Cracidae. These are species of tropical and subtropical Central and South America. The range of one species, the plain chachalaca, just reaches southernmost parts of Texas in the Unit ...

that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to lowland

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

in the states of

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

and

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

in southeastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Its population is decreasing due to hunting and

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, and it has possibly been

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

from Minas Gerais. It is currently being reintroduced to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

by means of individuals bred in captivity.''National Geographic Brasil'', ISSN 1517-7211, February 2007, pg.22 As suggested by its

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

, the male has a largely red bill, but this is lacking in the female.

Description

The red-billed curassow is a large bird reaching a length of . The male has pure black upper parts with a large black crest, and white underparts. There are bright red wattles and knobs at the base of the bill. The male can be distinguished from 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 ...

(''Crax globulosa'') by being less bluish-black and from the

black curassow The black curassow (''Crax alector''), also known as the smooth-billed curassow and the crested curassow, is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, and curassows. It is found in humid forests in northern South America ...

(''Crax alector'') by being less purplish-black. The female lacks the wattles and has black upper parts, a black and white barred crest, reddish-brown wings barred and mottled with black, and reddish-brown or ochre underparts.

Behaviour

The red-billed curassow is a largely ground-dwelling bird. It feeds on seeds, fruits, buds and small invertebrates. Males can be heard issuing their loud "booms" in September and October. Females lay a clutch of one to four eggs and the young are fledged by the end of the year.

Status

The red-billed curassow has a very limited range in eastern Brazil and populations there are declining because of habitat loss and hunting. The virgin forest in which it lives has largely been converted to agricultural land and plantations, and the bird is only present now in reserves, and even here it is illegally hunted and captured for the bird trade. There has been a successful captive breeding programme but the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

rates its conservation status in the wild as "

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q685738 red-billed curassow Birds of the Atlantic Forest Endemic birds of Brazil Endangered animals Endangered biota of South America red-billed curassow