Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species is undergoing a rapid decline owing to intense hunting pressure and habitat loss. It is therefore listed as Vulnerable.
Population justification
Formerly common, this species is now generally rare and occurs at low densities (Wege and Long 1995, Silva 1999). Based on observed densities of 4.8 individuals/km2 in Tamá National Natural Park, the population in Colombia is estimated at c.10,900 individuals, though this may be an overestimate; the population is therefore placed in the band 2,500-9,999 mature individuals (Renjfo et al. 2014). The population in Venezuela is suspected to number 1,000-2,499 mature individuals (Rojas-Suárez et al. 2015). The global population may therefore number roughly 3,500-12,500 mature individuals.
Trend justification
Once common across its range, the population has declined considerably; it is reportedly observed less frequently in recent years and has even suffered local extinctions (Renjifo et al. 2014, Rojas-Suárez et al. 2015, del Hoyo and Kirwan 2020, T. Donegan in litt. 2023). The principal drivers of the decline are thought to be intense hunting pressure and habitat loss (del Hoyo and Kirwan 2020).
The rate of decline has not been quantified across the range. Within its altitudinal range, about 6% of tree cover has been lost since 2000 (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein), which roughly equates to a decline of 8% over the past three generations (27 years). Given the species' strict dependence on interior forest and sensitivity to fragmented and edge habitat, habitat loss may have caused population declines at a higher rate than tree cover loss alone suggests. By now, the species is largely restricted to protected areas (Rojas-Suárez et al. 2015). The impact of hunting has not been quantified; hunting pressure is however described as intense and ongoing even within protected areas (Renjifo et al. 2014, Rojas-Suárez et al. 2015). In Colombia, it is suspected that the population has declined by >50% over 40 years (Renjifo et al. 2014), which is equivalent to a decline of 37% over three generations. Assuming that this rate is representative for the entire range, it is suspected that the combined impacts of hunting and habitat loss are causing overall population declines at a rate of 30-49% over three generations, though an accurate quantification of the population trend is urgently required.
Pauxi pauxi occurs in the northern Andes of Venezuela and Colombia. The nominate subspecies pauxi was formerly common from the Cordillera de la Costa west to the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela, and on the north-eastern slopes of the East Andes in Colombia (Norte de Santander, Santander, Boyacá and Arauca) and adjacent Venezuela (south-west Táchira). Subspecies gilliardi occurs in the Sierra de Perijá on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
It is restricted to dense cloud-forest in steep, mountainous regions at 500 to 2,260 m (mostly 1,000-1,500 m), where it favours humid gorges with dense undergrowth. It tends to avoid forest edges. Nests are built in March, and young hatch around mid-May. Pairs or family parties forage, mainly terrestrially, for fallen fruit, seeds, tender leaves, grasses and buds (Schäfer 1953, Silva 1999). Five nests in Yacambú National Park were located between 5.5 and 15 metres up in trees (J. Ortega in litt. 2012). It may make some seasonal altitudinal movements (Strahl et al. 1997).
Its decline results from hunting and long-term destruction, fragmentation and modification of its habitat.
Hunting continues even in long-established, and relatively well-resourced protected areas (C. J. Sharpe, J. P. Rodríguez and F. Rojas-Suárez in litt. 1999) and is probably even increasing in the wake of infrastructure development. Birds are hunted for food and for traditional jewellery; for instance in the buffer zone of Tamá National Park (Colombia) each household had at least five skulls and eggs as hunting trophies (V. Setina in litt. 2007), and thirty skulls and an egg were found in one home (Setina et al. 2008). Within the Tamá National Park itself, all of 45 inhabitants interviewed in 2006-2007 had eaten Cracids, stating that they preferred Helmeted Curassows to Wattled Guans (Setina et al. 2008). In the same area, the U’wa indians hunt the species for food, for sale at local markets and for the "helmet", which is used to make aphrodisiacs (Setina et al. 2010).The species' strong preference for forest interiors and avoidance of edges makes it vulnerable to forest loss and degradation. Many parts of the range are being progressively deforested for cattle-ranching at lower altitudes and for narcotics cultivation higher up (C. J. Sharpe in litt. 1997, Global Forest Watch 2022).
Conservation Actions Underway
CITES III in Colombia. The species is listed as Endangered at the national level in Colombia and Venezuela (Renjifo et al. 2014, Rojas-Suárez et al. 2015). It occurs in several protected areas across its range, including Tamá National Natural Park and Pauxi Pauxi ProAves Reserve in Colombia. Captive breeding programmes exist in Colombia (Renjifo et al. 2014). Environmental education and awareness programmes are carried out in Colombia (Renjifo et al. 2014); in Venezuela however these programmes were discontinued (Rojas-Suárez et al. 2015).
91 cm. Large, black, terrestrial, cracid, with bizarre bluish fig-shaped casque on head. Dull red bill and legs. Male and normal-phase female mostly black with greenish and bluish gloss to mantle and breast, and dull black scaling. White belly, undertail-coverts and tail tip. Rare rufous-phase female rufous-brown, finely barred and vermiculated black. Blackish head and neck. Blackish tail broadly tipped buffy-white. White belly and underparts. Voice During breeding season, male sings low, ventriloquial droning boom, like groan of old tree, 6-10 four-part drones per minute. Alarm call a soft, repeated tzsuk.
Text account compilers
Hermes, C.
Contributors
Benstead, P., Cortés, O., Donegan, T., Mahood, S., Ortega, J., Rodríguez, J.-P., Rojas-Suárez, F., Salaman, P.G.W., Setina, V., Sharpe, C J, Strahl, S.D. & Symes, A.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Helmeted Curassow Pauxi pauxi. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/helmeted-curassow-pauxi-pauxi on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.