Crax rubra

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	GALLIFORMES	CRACIDAE

Scientific Name:

Crax rubra

Species Authority:

Linnaeus, 1758

Common Name/s:

English	–	Great Curassow
Spanish	–	Pavón Norteño

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Vulnerable A2cd+3cd+4cd ver 3.1

Year Published:

2009

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s:

Bird, J., Butchart, S. & Symes, A.

Contributor/s:

Brooks, D., Freile, J., González-García, F., Jahn, O., Martínez-Morales, M., Navarro, A., Ridgely, R., Rios, M. & Sandoval, L.

Justification:
Hunting pressure and habitat loss are suspected to be causing ongoing rapid declines across the extensive range of this species. Trends for the species are now calculated over a period of 34 years (three generations), using new information on generation lengths, and declines over this period both past and future are suspected to have been sufficiently rapid for the species to require uplisting to Vulnerable. If these declines are found to be even greater than is currently suspected it may require further uplisting to Endangered.

History:

2008	–	Near Threatened
2004	–	Near Threatened

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Crax rubra has a wide but now highly fragmented distribution from San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas and the Yucatán peninsula, Mexico^2,3,6, south through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama to west Colombia (Pacific lowlands east to the Gulf of Urabá and the upper Sinú valley) and, very rarely, west Ecuador^9,10. The distinctive race griscomi is restricted to Cozumel Island off Mexico, where an estimated 300 individuals remain⁵ and it is thought to have declined¹¹. It has undergone a considerable (and continuing) decline, becoming uncommon to rare or locally extinct throughout much of its range. In Ecuador there are perhaps fewer than 100 individuals¹³. Healthy populations occurred in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, but the effects of extensive fires in 1998 on the species are unknown⁸. However, it has recovered or remains relatively common in areas with legal protection or where it is not hunted, and populations are still stable in Guatemala and Nicaragua⁴.
Countries:	Native: Belize; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	O Jahn in litt. (2009).
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It is restricted to undisturbed humid evergreen forest (also seasonally dry forest in some areas) and mangroves. It is primarily a lowland species but has been recorded at altitudes of up to 1,900 m in Panama.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	It is widely hunted for food (and legally in Belize⁷), and further threatened by severe habitat loss and fragmentation^1,4 in Ecuador (annual deforestation rate of 3.8% within the breeding range), Honduras (3.1% per year nationally), El Salvador (1.7%), Colombia (unprecedented deforestation rates in the Colombian Chocó), Guatemala (1.3% annual deforestation) and Nicaragua (1.3%)¹⁴. It rapidly disappears when logging roads are built into previously inaccessible forests⁴. Extensive fires, such as those in Oaxaca, Mexico in 1998, may be a threat, and some birds are captured as pets. Additional potential threats to race griscomi include hurricanes and the introduction of invasive species¹¹.

Major Threat(s):

It is widely hunted for food (and legally in Belize⁷), and further threatened by severe habitat loss and fragmentation^1,4 in Ecuador (annual deforestation rate of 3.8% within the breeding range), Honduras (3.1% per year nationally), El Salvador (1.7%), Colombia (unprecedented deforestation rates in the Colombian Chocó), Guatemala (1.3% annual deforestation) and Nicaragua (1.3%)¹⁴. It rapidly disappears when logging roads are built into previously inaccessible forests⁴. Extensive fires, such as those in Oaxaca, Mexico in 1998, may be a threat, and some birds are captured as pets. Additional potential threats to race griscomi include hurricanes and the introduction of invasive species¹¹.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Conservation Actions Underway CITES III in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and Colombia⁴. It occurs in a number of protected areas including Santa Rosa, Rincón de la Vieja and Corcovado National Parks in Costa Rica⁴. A captive breeding and reintroduction project is taking place in secondary forest on the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica with 94 birds released between 2000-2004¹². Conservation Actions Proposed Survey populations and ascertain trends at known sites. Effectively protect national parks where the species occurs. Enforce hunting restrictions (and ban hunting in Belize), and introduce educational campaigns to reduce hunting pressure.

Conservation Actions:

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES III in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and Colombia⁴. It occurs in a number of protected areas including Santa Rosa, Rincón de la Vieja and Corcovado National Parks in Costa Rica⁴. A captive breeding and reintroduction project is taking place in secondary forest on the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica with 94 birds released between 2000-2004¹².

Conservation Actions Proposed
Survey populations and ascertain trends at known sites. Effectively protect national parks where the species occurs. Enforce hunting restrictions (and ban hunting in Belize), and introduce educational campaigns to reduce hunting pressure.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2009. Crax rubra. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 23 May 2012.
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