Species Fact Profile: Helmeted Curassow (Pauxi pauxi)

Helmeted Curassow

Pauxi pauxi (Linnaeus, 1766)

Range: Western Venezuela and northern Colombia
Habitat: Cloud forests between 500-2200 meters.  Avoid disturbed habitat and forest edge
Diet: Seeds, Fruits, Insects, Small Animals
Social Grouping: Pairs or small family flocks (parents with chicks)
Reproduction: Monogamous.  Female lays two cream-colored eggs, which are incubated by the female alone for 29-32 days.  Nests are built in March, about 5-15 meters up in the trees.  Young hatching out in mid-May.  Male assists in raising the chicks
Lifespan: 20 Years
Conservation Status: IUCN Endangered, CITES Appendix III (Colombia)  

• Measure 90 centimeters in length, weigh 3.5 kilograms
• Sexes look alike.  Primarily black plumage with white-tipped tail feathers and a greenish-glossy mantle and breast feathers.  White on the underside.  Both sexes have a large blue-gray casque on the forehead, for which the species is named.  The casque is slightly smaller in females than in males.  The bill is red, the legs are opaque colored.
• A rare color morph exists in females which are sometimes rufous-brown with fine barring lined with black, the underside still being white.  The head will still be black, and the tail will be black tipped with white or buff.
• Usually found on forest floor or in low undergrowth, but will roost higher up in the trees.  Males may also go into the higher branches to call
• During the breeding season, the male sings in a low, droning boom, about 6-10 drones per minute.  Said to sound like the groaning of an old tree.  Hunters sometimes use these grunts to track curassows in the forest.  When alarmed, call is a soft, repeated tzsuk tzsuk
• Two subspecies – the nominate, the Merida helmeted curassow, which has a larger, more egg-shaped casque, and the Perija (Pauxi pauxi gilliardi), in which the casque is smaller and more cylindrical in shape.  Gene flow between the subspecies may have been halted
• Primary threats are hunting (primarily for food, at least historically for use in traditional jewelry) and habitat loss, both due to cattle ranching and narcotics cultivation
• U’wa Indians of Colombia also hunt the species for its casque, which is believed to have aphrodisiacal properties.  Some Indians remove eggs from nests and bring them home to incubate under chickens, then raise the chicks as pets
• Captive breeding programs have been established in Colombia and have been proposed in Venezuela for reintroduction into the wild.