Tepui toucanet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tepui toucanet |
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Aulacorhynchus
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whitelianus
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The tepui toucanet is a colorful bird from the toucan family. It's also called Whitely's toucanet. You can find this bird in countries like Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. It's a type of bird known as a near-passerine.
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How Scientists Classify This Bird
Scientists group living things to understand them better. The tepui toucanet was once thought to be the same species as the chestnut-tipped toucanet. But in 2011, experts decided they were different species.
The tepui toucanet has three main types, called subspecies:
- A. w. duidae - discovered by Chapman in 1929.
- The main type, A. w. whitelianus - discovered by Salvin and Godman in 1882.
- A. w. osgoodi - discovered by Blake in 1941.
What the Tepui Toucanet Looks Like
The tepui toucanet is about 33 to 41 cm (13 to 16 in) long. That's roughly the size of a ruler. It weighs between 117 to 160 g (4.1 to 5.6 oz), which is about as much as a small apple.
Its beak is a mix of deep red and black. It has a thin white line at the bottom of its beak. Both male and female toucanets look alike. Their feathers are mostly green. They have a white throat and yellow-green feathers under their tail. There's also some blue color just below their eyes.
The main subspecies, A. w. whitelianus, has short, dull reddish-brown tips on its tail feathers. The A. w. duidae subspecies is bigger and has more reddish-brown on its tail. The A. w. osgoodi subspecies is smaller. It doesn't have any reddish-brown on its tail and has less blue under its eye.
Where the Tepui Toucanet Lives
Each subspecies of the tepui toucanet lives in slightly different areas:
- A. w. duidae lives in Amazonas and western Bolívar states in Venezuela. It also lives in nearby northern Brazil.
- A. w. whitelianus is found in southeastern Bolívar state in southern Venezuela. It also lives in northwestern Guyana.
- A. w. osgoodi lives in the Serra do Acari in southern Guyana. It's also found in the Wilhelmina Mountains and Tafelberg in Suriname.
Some people have reported seeing this bird in French Guiana. However, scientists are still checking if it truly lives there.
In southern Venezuela and Brazil, the tepui toucanet lives in moist, subtropical cloudforests. These forests are found on special flat-topped mountains called tepuis. In eastern Venezuela and the Guianas, it lives in hilly tropical forests. These birds usually live at heights between 800 and 1,800 m (2,600 and 5,900 ft). Sometimes, they are seen as high as 2,380 m (7,810 ft) on Venezuela's Cerro Roraima. They can also be found lower, at 380 m (1,250 ft) in Guyana and 640 m (2,100 ft) in Suriname.
Tepui Toucanet Behavior
Movement
Scientists believe the tepui toucanet generally stays in one place. However, they might move to different heights on the tepuis in Venezuela during certain seasons.
Feeding
The tepui toucanet is thought to look for food from the lower parts of the forest up to the middle layers of trees. We don't know exactly what they eat. But it's probably similar to the chestnut-tipped toucanet, which eats fruits and insects. These birds are usually seen alone or in pairs. They sometimes join groups of different bird species looking for food together.
Reproduction
The breeding season for the tepui toucanet seems to be from February to July. Not much else is known about how they raise their young.
Vocalization
The song of the tepui toucanet is described as a low, grunting sound. It sounds like "grank, graank, graank...".
Conservation Status
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has listed the tepui toucanet as "Least Concern." This means it's not currently in danger of disappearing. However, its total population size is not known. Scientists believe the number of these birds might be going down. No immediate threats have been found.
The bird is "still common in some Venezuelan localities." It also lives in at least two protected areas in Venezuela. More information is urgently needed about the osgoodi subspecies. This type might be at risk in its smaller range in Guyana and Suriname.
