Darwin rhea
| Darwin rhea | ||||||||||||
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Darwin rhea |
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| Rhea pennata | ||||||||||||
| ( d'Orbigny , 1834) |
The Darwin rhea ( Rhea pennata , Syn. : Pterocnemia pennata , Rhea darwinii Gould , 1837) is a ratite from the genus of rheas ( Rhea ). It is the smaller, rarer, and less known of the two species.
discovery
Charles Darwin learned during the journey with the HMS Beagle from gauchos in Patagonia of the existence of a ratite which is called "Avestruz petise" by the local residents. In Port Desire, today's Puerto Deseado , Darwin's crew shot and cooked a specimen of the bird that Darwin had not identified as the rhea they were looking for. Darwin later remembered the gaucho report, rescued some of the cooked bird and sent it to ornithologist John Gould . Gould thought the ratite was an unknown species and named it after its discoverer Rhea darwinii , in German Darwin rhea . Some time later it turned out that the zoologist Alcide Dessalines d'Orbigny had already described the ratite in 1834, so that the scientific name of the first identification Pterocnemia pennata was preferred. In 2008 the South American Check-list Committee (SACC) of the American Ornithologists' Union put the Darwin rhea back into the genus Rhea .
features
The Darwin rhea has a gray or gray-brown plumage, and is about 90 cm back height of the male smaller than the large rhea ( Rhea americana ). Its weight is around 15 to 25 kg. The Darwin's rhea is distinguished from the great rhea by the white spots on the dorsal plumage. This is more pronounced in the rooster than in the hen, and is completely absent in young birds.
distribution and habitat
There are two geographically separate distribution areas: The larger includes the south of Argentina and Chile , i.e. the Patagonia landscape and the southern Andes . There is another occurrence of the Darwin rhea further north in the high Andes in the border area of Bolivia and Chile.
Although the range of the Darwin's rheas overlaps with that of the great rheas, both species usually prefer different habitats. The Darwin rhea tolerates shrubland and scrubland where the large species is not found. It also lives on the plateaus of the Andes at altitudes of 3500 to 4500 m. In Patagonia it occurs in the cold-temperate zones at the southern tip. It also occurs on Tierra del Fuego , but was introduced here by humans in 1936.
Way of life
In many ways, the Darwin rhea is little different from the great rhea. The way of life of both species is therefore described in detail in the article Nandus . In adaptation to shrubby habitats, the Darwin's rhea walks with a horizontally stretched neck and laid wings so as not to be hindered by the vegetation.
Subspecies
In addition to the nominate form ( Rhea pennata pennata ), there are two other subspecies geographically separated from it in the central Andes of the border regions of Peru , Bolivia , Argentina and Chile :
- Rhea pennata tarapacensis ( Chubb , 1913)
- Rhea pennata garleppi ( Chubb, C , 1913)
According to some experts, these two subspecies form a separate species, which is known as the Puna Nandu ( Rhea tarapacensis ). They are more gray than brown in color and have less pronounced scales on the legs than the nominate form.
literature
- Josep del Hoyo et al .: Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, 1992, ISBN 84-87334-10-5 .
- John Gould: On a New Rhea (Rhea Darwinii) from Mr. Darwin's Collection . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . tape 5 , 1837, pp. 35-36 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Pterocnemia pennata in the Internet Bird Collection
- Rhea pennata inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . 2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ^ John Gould, p. 35.
- ↑ Jürgen Neffe: Darwin - The adventure of life . 2008, p. 125
- ↑ Proposal (# 348) to South American Classification Committee Incluir Pterocnemia dentro de Rhea ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
