Rainforest Expeditions (est. 1989) operates three award winning Amazon lodges: Posada Amazonas, Refugio Amazonas, and Tambopata Research Center. Each Amazon lodge provides access to a unique set of ecotourism experiences in the jungle of southeastern Peru.
Our packages include activities comprised of aspects of nature and culture of the Amazon rainforest. We offer a variety of special interest activities, tours and expeditions like Soft Adventure, Birdwatching expeditions, Family and more...
Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin)
Photo: Noah Hawthorne
Local name: Shansho
Scientific name: Opisthocomus hoazin
Characteristics:
1. Size 61 to 69cm.
2. Long neck and small head.
3. No feathers on the face, blue skin.
4. Long rufous crest on the head.
5. Chiks have claws on wings (loose them when adults).
Habitat and behavior: Hoatzins are found alongs shores of lakes and lagoons.
Diet: The hoatzin eats the leaves and to a lesser degree fruits of the plants which grow in the marshy and riverine habitats where it lives.
Reproduction habits:Both the male and female build a flat, unlined nest from sticks 2 to 6 meters above the water. They take turns incubating the eggs for the next month until the eggs hatch. Although the chicks may crawl out of the nest when they are two to three weeks old, they do not begin to fly until they are at least two months old. The juvenile hoatzins stay with their parents for another season or two and help take care of subsequent offspring, as well as defend the territory. They eventually leave to begin families of their own.
Curiosities: It is the only member of the genus Opisthocomus, which means 'ones with long hair behind' referring to their large crest. The alternative name of "stinkbird" is derived from the bird's bad odor, caused by their digestive system. Hoatzins use bacterial fermentation in the front part of the gut to break down the vegetable material they consume, much like cattle and other ruminants. Unlike ruminants, however, which possess the rumen - a specialized stomach for bacterial fermentation - in the hoatzin this is the function of the crop, an enlargement of the esophagus. The crop of the hoatzin is so large that it displaced the flight muscles and thus making it difficult for them to fly. Because of their disagreeable odor hoatzins are only hunted for food by locals in times of dire need.
The chick, which is fed on regurgitated fermented food, has another odd feature; it has two claws on each wing. When disturbed, the chicks drop into the water to escape. To climb back to the safety of the nest they use their clawed wings. For this reason scientists once thought that hoatzins were a lost link to primitive birds such as Archaeopterix - feathered reptiles whose wings bore claws. Recent studies however place the hoatzin as a relative of the cuckoos.
