This allows baby Hoatzins to flee predators in the tree by leaping into the water below their preferred nesting sites. This is very unusual as very few birds have these claws, but to the baby hoatzin they are very necessary. Hoatzin lose their claws as they become adults, but some (maybe up to 1/3) regrow them (though the adult birds are too heavy to use them in climbing). TheHoatzin 112,239 views. Interesting Facts • The name Stinkbird is related to a strong smell produced by this bird, perhaps due to the consumption of leaves. In the Amazon forests of South America lives a strange bird called the Hoatzin. It's also famous for the claws on the wings of the young birds. The Hoatzin.
The Hoatzin is the national bird of Guyana. The mother hoatzin builds her nest in trees or bushes which hang over the water, and when the baby birds hatch, they have claws on their wings! It’s also called the reptile bird, the skunk bird, and the stinkbird. Hoatzin chicks are naked, and proof of the old aphorism "a face only a mother could love." It is notable for having chicks that possess claws on two of their wing digits. Sometimes, before the baby birds have learnt to fly, another creature attacks their nest. The Hoatzin weights ~ 700 grams and it is about the size of a pheasant. This allows baby Hoatzins to flee predators in the tree by leaping into the water below their preferred nesting sites. @ysmina-- Yea, the claw disappears by the time the hoatzin is an adult. Physical Description: Namibiavis was a primitive Hoatzin - a group of weirdo birds that only have one living representative, distinctive for its frugivorous diet, smelly farts, visible baby claws… TIL that baby Hoatzin birds are born with claws not only on their feet, but also on their wings. The mother hoatzin builds her nest in trees or bushes which hang over the water, and when the baby birds hatch, they have claws on their wings! The hoatzin is a South American bird with some strange features. Jul 4, 2013 - The Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), also known as the Hoactzin, Stinkbird, or Canje Pheasant, is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riverine forest and mangrove of the Amazon and the Orinoco delta in South America. Ratites (ostrich, rhea, apteryx, etc) have wing claws as … Its crest is red-orange up to 8 cm long. • The name Hoatzin comes from a Nahuatl or Aztec word meaning pheasant. See more ideas about Birds, Tropical birds, Species. The mother hoatzin builds her nest in trees or bushes which hang over the water, and when the baby birds hatch, they have claws on their wings! It's easy to imagine that the ancient bird, like the modern one, used its prominent wing claws to climb. The wing claws allow them to climb back up the tree before they learn to fly. It lives beside the river banks and eats leaves and fruit. But beauty does not count: what does count is the tiny claws on the chick's wings. The Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) is a colorful neotropical bird with an archaic appearance, featuring wing claws in the chicks, similar to those present on the Archaeopteryx fossil, the first known winged lizard-bird. ... Hoatzin claws - Duration: 1:52. It lives beside the river banks and eats leaves and fruit. Each H oatzin chick has two claws on the digits of each wing for the first 3 months of its life.