The Trinidad piping guan (''Pipile pipile'') locally known as the pawi, is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the chachalaca, guan and curassow

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cracidae 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 Unite ...

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 the island of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

. It is a large bird, somewhat resembling a turkey in appearance, and research has shown that its nearest living relative is the blue-throated piping guan from South America. It is a mainly arboreal species feeding mostly on fruit, but also on flowers and leaves. At one time abundant, it has declined in numbers and 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 much of its natural range and 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 ...

has rated the bird as " critically endangered".

Description

This is a medium-sized

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 ...

, 60 cm in length, and similar in general appearance to a

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, with a thin neck and small head. It is mainly black with a purple gloss. The large

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

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 Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...

is a thin piping. The wings whirr in flight.

Ecology

They are

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

birds, and the

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

is built in a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

. Three large white

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

are laid, the female alone incubating. This

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...

species feeds on

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

and berries (such as those from the fragrant nutmeg and baboonwood),https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Pipile_pipile%20-%20Trinidad%20Piping-guan%20or%20Pawi.pdf as well as flowers and leaves. The confirmation of small

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s being a part of their diet has not been made yet.

Taxonomy

Data confirms that the other blue-wattled species, the blue-throated piping guan, is the Trinidad species' closest living relative. 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 Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation t ...

in mainland South America, being driven to its

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) 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. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

island range in more recent times. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

of this species was supposedly collected in the "

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

egion Aigio, also written as ''Aeghion, Aegion, Aegio, Egio'' ( el, Αίγιο, Aígio, ; la, Aegium), is a town and a former municipality in Achaea, West Greece, on the Peloponnese. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipal ...

near

Cumaná Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in South ...

" (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 (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

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."

Status

This species is found only in

where it was once abundant throughout the Northern Range and the southern Trinity Hills, and also occurred in lowland areas such as the Nariva Swamp and Aripo Savannas. It is threatened by illegal hunting and to a lesser extent by habitat destruction. It is now absent from the lowlands, and almost certainly extinct in the Trinity Hills where surveys have failed to find it since 1994. There is a credible report of a sighting in 2000 in the Northern Range and there are of suitable habitat there so the

has rated the bird as " critically endangered".

References

* del Hoyo, Josep (1994a): 28. Trinidad Piping-guan. ''In:'' del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors) ''

Handbook of Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. Th ...

, Volume 2 (New World Vultures to Guineafowl)'': 353, Plate 32. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. * del Hoyo, Josep (1994a): 29. Blue-throated Piping-guan. ''In:'' del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors) ''

, Volume 2 (New World Vultures to Guineafowl)'': 353, Plate 32. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. * ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton & Eckelberry, Don R. (1991): ''A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago'' (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.. *Grau, Erwin T.; Pereira, Sérgio Luiz; Silveira, Luís Fábio; Höfling, Elizabeth & Wanjtal, Anita (2005): Molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of Neotropical piping guans (Aves: Galliformes): ''Pipile'' Bonaparte, 1856 is synonym of ''Aburria'' Reichenbach, 1853. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 35: 637–645. PDF fulltext
*Hilty, Steven L. (2003): ''Birds of Venezuela''. Christopher Helm, London.

External links

ARKive ARKive was a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery", which it did by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the worl ...

images and movies of the Trinidad piping guan (''Aburria pipile'')
Retrieved 2007-FEB-26. {{Taxonbar, from=Q212526

Trinidad piping guan The Trinidad piping guan (''Pipile pipile'') locally known as the pawi, is a bird in the chachalaca, guan and curassow Family (biology), family Cracidae, Endemism, endemic to the island of Trinidad. It is a large bird, somewhat resembling a turk ...

Birds of Trinidad and Tobago Endemic fauna of Trinidad and Tobago Endemic birds of the Caribbean