The small-billed tinamou (''Crypturellus parvirostris'') is a type of

Tinamou Tinamous () form an order of birds called Tinamiformes (), comprising a single family called Tinamidae (), divided into two distinct subfamilies, containing 46 species found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The word "tinamou" come ...

commonly found in dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

in Amazonian

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

.Clements, J (2007)

Description

The small-billed tinamou is approximately in length. Its upperparts are dark brown, with grey to brownish under parts and head. Its bill and legs are red.

Taxonomy

The small-billed tinamou is a monotypic species. All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also

ratite A ratite () is any of a diverse group of flightless, large, long-necked, and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwi, the exception, are much smaller and shorter-legged and are the only nocturnal extant ratites. The systematics ...

s. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)

Etymology

''Crypturellus'' is formed from three

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words. ''kruptos'' meaning covered or hidden, ''oura'' meaning tail, and ''ellus'' meaning diminutive. Therefore, ''Crypturellus'' means small hidden tail.Gotch, A. F. (1195)

Behavior

Like other tinamous, the small-billed eats fruit off the ground or low-lying bushes. They also eat small amounts of

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

, flower buds, tender leaves, seeds, and roots. The male incubates the eggs which may come from as many as 4 different females, and then will raise them until they are ready to be on their own, usually 2–3 weeks. The nest is located on the ground in dense brush or between raised root buttresses.

Domestication

The small billed tinamou has been considered an ideal candidate for domestication as the birds can raise 3-4 broods per year and are resistant to diseases that affect

chickens The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

Range and habitat

The small-billed tinamou prefers dry savanna, but will also reside in lowland shrubland.BirdLife International (2008) Its range is Amazonian

;

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 ...

except for the southeastern portion, northeastern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, eastern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, and northeastern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Conservation

The

IUCN 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 ...

classifies this tinamou as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

, with an occurrence range of .

Footnotes

References

* * * * *

External links

* Associação Mãe-da-lu
Small-billed Tinamou (Crypturellus parvirostris)
- photos, sounds, notes

small-billed tinamou The small-billed tinamou (''Crypturellus parvirostris'') is a type of Tinamou commonly found in dry savanna in Amazonian South America.Clements, J (2007) Description The small-billed tinamou is approximately in length. Its upperparts are dark ...

Birds of Brazil Birds of Bolivia Birds of Paraguay

{{Tinamiformes-stub