Golden-crowned manakin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Golden-crowned manakin |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Lepidothrix
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| Species: |
vilasboasi
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| Synonyms | |
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Pipra vilasboasi Sick, 1959 |
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The golden-crowned manakin (Lepidothrix vilasboasi) is a small, colorful bird that belongs to the manakin family. It is a type of perching bird, which means it has feet designed to grip branches. This special bird lives only in a specific part of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Sadly, it is a threatened species because its home is shrinking due to habitat loss.
Discovery and Rediscovery
A scientist named Helmut Sick first described the golden-crowned manakin in 1959. He studied bird samples that were collected a few years earlier. These samples came from an area near a small river called the Rio Cururu-ri in the eastern Brazilian Amazon.
For many years, people had trouble finding this bird again. This was partly because there was some confusion about the exact place where the first samples were found. But in 2002, the golden-crowned manakin was finally rediscovered! Now, we know it lives in several places. These areas are bordered by the Jamanxim and Tapajos rivers, and the Cachimbo Range.
How the Golden Crown Appeared
Scientists have studied the genes of the golden-crowned manakin. They found something very interesting: this bird might be a hybrid species. This means it likely came from two different parent species mixing together. These parents are the opal-crowned manakin and the snow-capped manakin. It's rare for birds to form new species this way!
The golden-crowned manakin looks a lot like both its parent species. However, it has one very special feature: its unique yellow crown. The snow-capped manakin has a white crown, and the opal-crowned manakin has a shiny, opalescent (like an opal gem) crown. These crowns get their colors from how light bounces off tiny structures in their feathers. This is called structural colour. These structures are made of a material called keratin, which is also found in our hair and nails.
Scientists believe that when the two parent species mixed, it changed how these tiny structures formed. This made the golden-crowned manakin's crown look duller at first. But then, something called sexual selection happened. This means that female manakins preferred males with yellow crowns. So, over time, the birds started to put yellow pigments (colors) called carotenoids into their crowns. This made the males more attractive to females and helped the golden-crowned manakin become the unique species we see today.
See also
In Spanish: Saltarín coronidorado para niños
