Long-tailed ground roller facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Long-tailed ground roller |
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| Adult in Mangily, Madagascar | |
| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Coraciiformes |
| Family: | Brachypteraciidae |
| Genus: | Uratelornis Rothschild, 1895 |
| Species: |
U. chimaera
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| Binomial name | |
| Uratelornis chimaera Rothschild, 1895
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| Distribution (orange) in southern Madagascar | |
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The long-tailed ground roller (Uratelornis chimaera) is a special type of bird found only in Madagascar. It belongs to the ground roller family, which are birds that look a bit like rollers but spend most of their time on the ground. This bird lives in dry, spiny forests near the coast in southwestern Madagascar. It needs shady spots and lots of leaves on the ground to live.
The long-tailed ground roller is a medium-sized bird with a plump body and a very long tail. Its top feathers are dark brown with black stripes, and its belly is light gray. It has a white throat with black stripes on its cheeks and a black band across its chest. You can also see sky-blue feathers on its wing edges and tail. Unlike most other ground rollers, males and females look a bit different.
These birds mostly eat invertebrates like ants, beetles, butterflies, and worms. They find food by searching through deep piles of leaves or by waiting quietly and watching. They are very strong runners but don't fly much because their wings are weak. Long-tailed ground rollers stay with one partner and defend their territory during the breeding season, which is from October to February. They dig tunnels in the sand for their nests, where they lay two to four eggs. After the young birds can fly, they stay with their family until February before moving out on their own.
The long-tailed ground roller is considered a vulnerable bird by the IUCN. This means it's at risk because its home is being destroyed. The spiny forests where it lives are not protected by the government. People cut down trees for farming, charcoal, and wood. Local people also hunt these birds.
Contents
About the Long-tailed Ground Roller
Naming the Bird
The long-tailed ground roller was first described in 1895 by a British banker and naturalist named Walter Rothschild. He gave it the scientific name Uratelornis chimaera. Rothschild created a special group, called a monotypic genus, just for this bird because it was so unique.
The name Uratelornis comes from ancient Greek words. Oura means "tail," and atelornis refers to another type of ground roller. Atelornis means "incomplete bird." The second part of its name, chimaera, comes from the Chimera, a monster from ancient Greek stories. The ground roller family is named because these birds look similar to "rollers" and spend a lot of time on the ground.
Scientists used to think ground rollers, cuckoo rollers, and rollers were all in one big family. But in 1971, a scientist named Joel Cracraft suggested they should be separate families. This was because of big differences in how they act, their feathers, and their bones. Later DNA tests showed this was true. The closest relative to the long-tailed ground roller is the scaly ground roller. This bird does not have any different types or subspecies.
What Does It Look Like?
The long-tailed ground roller has a very unique shape because of its plump body and super long tail. It can be about 34 to 47 cm (13 to 18 in) long. Its tail alone can be up to 30 cm (12 in) long, making it the longest tail of any ground roller. This bird has short wings and long, pinkish-brown legs.
Males have a sandy-colored top of the head and dark brown upper parts with black stripes. They have a light buff stripe above their eyes and brown feathers covering their ears. Their eyes are brown, and their short, strong beak is black. They have a long, brush-like tongue to help them catch insects. A white stripe is at the base of the beak, surrounded by brown and black stripes on the cheeks. These cheek stripes and a black band on the chest frame a white throat. The tail has 15 to 20 dark brown bars, and the outer tail feathers are sky blue. This sky blue color is also on the wing-coverts. When the bird flies, you can see two black and white bands on its wings. The underparts are light gray, and the chest is white. Its toes are special: the first and fourth toes point outwards, and the middle two toes point inwards.
Females look like males but are smaller. They have a narrower chest band and a shorter tail. Females also lose their tail while nesting. These differences mean the long-tailed ground roller is the only ground roller where you can clearly see differences between males and females (called sexual dimorphism). Young birds look like the adult female, but their colors are not as bright.
Bird Calls and Sounds
The long-tailed ground roller is usually quiet, but during the breeding season, it makes several sounds. Males make a low "hooting" sound from a perch about 2 to 6 m (7 to 20 ft) above the ground at dusk or at night. This sound can travel at least 200 m (650 ft) and helps attract a mate or defend its territory. The bird bobs its tail when it makes this call.
Another sound is a series of soft boo notes, usually six to ten notes that get quieter at the end. Both males and females make a chuckling tu-tuc sound that lasts 10 to 40 seconds. This call sometimes ends with a loud snapping sound made by their wings. This wing-snapping sound is rare in birds. They make this sound when they are close to each other on the ground or on low branches. Mates also make soft gu notes when they meet.
Where They Live and Their Home
The long-tailed ground roller lives only on the island of Madagascar. It stays in a narrow strip of land along the coast in the southwestern part of the island. This area is about 10,500 km2 (4,050 sq mi) in size. However, there are not many of these birds, with only about 0.8 to 10 birds per square kilometer. This area is from sea level up to 100 m (330 ft) high. The long-tailed ground roller does not migrate, but it might spread out more after the breeding season.
Their main home is the spiny forest. This is a dry area with thorny bushes and trees that lose their leaves. It only gets about 500 mm (20 in) of rain each year and has sandy soil. Common plants include cactus-like Didiereaceae and tree-like Euphorbiaceae. Baobab trees are also common.
Scientists used to think these birds preferred forests that had not been touched by humans. But newer studies show they actually like areas that have been slightly changed. Even so, they need shade and are not found in areas where all the trees have been cut down or on sunny sand dunes.
How They Live and Behave
The long-tailed ground roller is a shy bird. If a human sees it, it will either freeze or run away. It rarely flies but is a very strong runner. Even though it mostly stays on the ground, it sleeps in low trees and bushes and sings from low branches. Outside the breeding season, these birds live alone. They are usually active during the day, but sometimes they look for food at night, which is unusual for ground rollers. When calling, this bird bobs its head and raises its tail. It also raises its tail when it is excited.
What They Eat
This bird finds almost all its food on the ground. It either stays still and watches carefully or actively searches by digging through deep piles of leaves. It eats many different invertebrates, such as ants, beetles, butterflies, caterpillars, cockroaches, grasshoppers, woodlice, and worms. Sometimes, it might even eat small vertebrates. Even though it's not a good flyer, it has been seen catching butterflies in the air.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
The breeding season happens during the rainy season, from October to January. During this time, the birds stop being solitary and find a mate, staying with that one partner. Males create and defend their own areas during this season. They make territorial calls from a perch up to 6 m (20 ft) high for an hour after sunrise, and sometimes throughout the day and night. During courtship, males have been seen feeding the female.
Both male and female long-tailed ground rollers dig a burrow in flat, firm sand using their beaks and feet. They build their nest at the end of this burrow. The burrow slopes downwards and is about 0.8 to 1.2 m (2.6 to 3.9 ft) long and 8 cm (3 in) wide. The end of the burrow opens into a chamber about 20 cm (8 in) wide. This chamber has a shallow dip covered with dry leaves and small bits of earth.
When digging its nest, the long-tailed ground roller sometimes walks under a low branch, tilts its head up, and makes a rising tu-tuc call. At the loudest part of the call, the bird stops and flies up onto the branch, making a "ripping and crackling sound" with its wings. From the branch, it then makes a stream of boo notes. This display is thought to be part of a courtship ritual to attract a mate. Each pair might dig one to six nesting burrows during the breeding season, with the extra ones being "practice" burrows.
Between October and January, usually peaking in November, the female lays two smooth, white eggs. Sometimes, they lay three or four eggs. We don't know how long the eggs take to hatch or when the young birds leave the nest. After the young birds can fly, they live in a family group of four to five birds until about February. Then, the family breaks up, and the birds spread out.
Protecting the Long-tailed Ground Roller
The IUCN lists the long-tailed ground roller as vulnerable. This means it's at risk because its home is being destroyed, and the quality of its remaining home is getting worse. It is thought to be the most threatened type of ground roller. Between the mid-1970s and 2000, 30% of its already small habitat was damaged.
Farming by cutting and burning trees, making charcoal, logging, and cattle grazing have all led to loss of habitat. As of 2012, no special areas protect its home. Because of this, its habitat is considered the area in Madagascar most in need of conservation efforts. The birds are also threatened by hunting and people collecting their eggs. Besides humans, dogs hunt these birds, and introduced black rats eat their eggs.
This ground roller can handle some changes to its home, but it still needs enough shade and leaf litter to survive. In the early 1900s, it was quite common, but by the 1960s, it was considered rare. As of 2012, there are an estimated 9,500 to 32,700 long-tailed ground rollers left, and their numbers are still going down.
Long-tailed Ground Rollers and People
Because the long-tailed ground roller is very quiet and hard to see when it's not breeding, local people in Madagascar once thought it slept in its burrows for a long time. Even though it doesn't taste very good, people hunt this bird for food because it's large and easier to catch than birds that live in trees. In the early 1900s, herders hunted it with blowguns. In the 1950s and 1960s, local people trapped these birds and dug up their nesting burrows.
This bird has been shown on several of Madagascar's postage stamps. Only one zoo, Weltvogelpark Walsrode in Germany, has this species. Birdwatchers consider it one of the hardest birds in the world to find and see.
 | Georgia Louise Harris Brown |
 | Julian Abele |
 | Norma Merrick Sklarek |
 | William Sidney Pittman |
