Animals
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Hoatzin
The hoatzin has a short fat body, stout legs and feet, a long broad tail, long scruffy neck, and tiny head capped by a scraggly crest of spiky feathers. Its overall shape and coloration is similar to a pheasant, and the bird is known locally as the "stinking pheasant" because of its strong musky odour. This odour is unpleasant to people and most other mammals – which makes the hoatzin an unappetising meal to many potential predators. This is probably its only real means of defence. Despite the fact that the hoatzin has big wings, its wings are very weak and the hoatzin hardly ever flies. When it does fly, it only travels short distances – about 40 - 50 metres. The hoatzin's chicks are even stranger than the adults. They are born (hatched) with
sparse downy feathers, and have special claws ("thumb" and "first
finger") on their wings. These claws are very similar to those discovered on the
fossilised remains of the most ancient known birds – the Archaeopteryx. The chicks
are soon capable of moving about in the area around their nest (usually amongst dense
vegetation on the riverbanks), and can drop into the water and swim to avoid danger if
threatened. However, the chicks' claws and their ability to swim are lost when the hoatzin
become adults. |
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Scientists believe that birds evolved from dinosaurs and other ancient reptiles
that once roamed the earth. The hoatzin is a very unusual bird, and was once believed to
form this missing link between birds and reptiles. The hoatzin is a very primitive looking
bird that bears a close resemblance to some of the earliest bird fossils.