Quetzal (bird)
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Quetzal ( Pharomachrus mocinno ) |
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| Pharomachrus mocinno | ||||||||||
| de la Llave , 1832 |
The quetzal ([ kɛˈt͜sal ], Pharomachrus mocinno ) is a green and scarlet colored bird from the family of the trogons . Another four species of this genus live in Latin America .
Description and way of life
The quetzal is 35–38 cm long and weighs about 210 g, the males with tail feathers can reach a length of up to 1 m. The ventral side of the female is solid green. In the males of the two subspecies P. m. mocinno and P. m. costaricensis , strongly elongated upper tail covers form during the breeding season , which cover the tail and fall out again after the breeding season. The feathers can be up to 80 cm long. Especially during the breeding season, the Quetzal males perform spectacular courtship flights that last a few seconds . From the trees in the ridge area of the mountains they rise calling in a wavy flight upwards, only to disappear again in a nosedive into the crowns. When breeding and caring for the mostly two young, the sexes alternate. After the breeding season, the quetzals migrate to lower areas of the mountains. The gooseberry-sized fruits of wild avocado trees ( Lauraceae ) make up a large proportion of its food spectrum. The quetzal occupies a key role in the distribution of these tree species.
habitat
The quetzal lives exclusively in the cloud and cloud forests of Central America . The always humid climate enables broken, dead tree stumps to rot, so that the quetzal can dig its brood hole in the rotten wood. Extensive humid mountain forests still exist as a habitat for the quetzal in Costa Rica , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico , Nicaragua and Panama .
Quetzal and human
The quetzal was hunted by the pre-Columbian cultures for its magnificent long tail feathers that served as headdresses for their priests. Since the Toltecs, and after them the Aztecs in Mexico, worshiped the bird as the deity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli or Quetzalcoatl , it was not killed. The birds were caught and the long tail-coverts torn off. Anyone who killed a quetzal was punished with death. Today quetzals are still illegally hunted and killed.
In the oral tradition of the Quiché , the Quetzal originally had an exclusively green plumage. His scarlet chest he received after the conquest of the Quiche kingdom by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado in the years 1524 - 1525 . The Quetzal is said to have bathed in the blood of the murdered last King of the Quiché, Tecun Uman . As a result, the chest of the male Quetzal turned scarlet and has since been a symbol of the mourning for the last King of the Quiché, Tecun Uman, and the resulting loss of freedom of the people.
Legend has it that the quetzal kills itself in captivity. For this reason, it is also considered a symbol of freedom . The real cause of death, however, is probably a fungal disease of the respiratory tract, which often occurs in captivity. However, a zoo in Mexico managed to keep this bird since 1992, and in 2004 it broke in captivity.
The quetzal became the heraldic animal of Guatemala . The Guatemalan currency bears his name.
The quetzal is alive today as a tourist attraction for gentle tourism . The success of the observation depends very much on luck and the season.
etymology
Pharomachrus can be translated as “brightly colored coat” (Greek pharos “piece of cloth”, machineless “horny, bright, wild”; mocinno is dedicated to José Mariano Mociño (1757–1820), a Mexican naturalist and friend of the first describer). ñ was written earlier than nn . For the nominative s. Galeocerdo cuvier .- The Nahuatl word quetzalli could mean "shining tail feathers".
Danger
The quetzal is endangered by the destruction of its habitat. The Central American states are among the areas with the highest rate of forest decline. The expansion of the agricultural areas is causing the already isolated and naturally limited cloud forest areas to shrink to tiny fragments. The wintering areas are being destroyed by the conversion of lower-lying forests into agricultural areas. This rapidly progressing destruction of its habitats is considered to be the main endangerment of the quetzal in addition to hunting because of its magnificent feathers. He has been on the IUCN Red List since 2000 .
protection
The quetzal is under the protection of the Washington Convention on Endangered Species . The following areas are the last secured Quetzal retreats in Guatemala. Near Coban (Alta Verapaz) in the Biotopo del Quetzal (Mario Dary Biotopo) in the Sierra de Chama at an altitude of 1500 to 2300 m above sea level. 1550 hectares of this cloud forest have been protected as a national park since 1977. Since 1997 there has also been a private nature reserve, the Reserva Privada Chelemhá with a size of 500 ha, as well as the Ecologico Quetzal project in the highlands of Yalijux, Guaxac, Caquipec, Cham and in the three adjacent communities of the Laguna Lachu National Park in Alta Verapaz. A few other populations are reported north and south of Lake Atitlán .
Subspecies
There are two known subspecies:
- Pharomachrus mocinno mocinno de la Llave , 1832 occurs from southern Mexico to northern Nicaragua .
- Pharomachrus mocinno costaricensis Cabanis , 1869 occurs in Costa Rica to the west of Panama .
literature
- Pablo de la Llave: Memoria sobre de Quetzaltotol, Género nueva de Aves . In: Registro trimestre, ó, Colección de historia, literatura, ciencias y artes . tape 1 , 1832, p. 43-49 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Alexander von Frantzius : About the geographical distribution of the birds Costarica and their way of life . In: Journal for Ornithology (= 2 ). tape 2 , no. 101 , 1869, pp. 289-318 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Quetzal_Vogel
- ↑ List of Trogons at The Bird Internet Collection [1]
- ↑ Christopher Perrins: The Great Encyclopedia of Birds. Mosaik Verlag, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-576-10050-4
- ↑ Pablo de la Llave, p. 43.
- ^ IOC World Bird List Mousebirds, trogons, Cuckoo Roller
- ↑ Pablo de la Llave, p. 48.
- ^ Jean Louis Cabanis in Alexander von Frantzius, p. 313.
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Pharomachrus mocinno in the Internet Bird Collection
- Pharomachrus mocinno inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.1. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2013.