Extinct in the Wild
Alagoas Curassow
Mitu mitu
At that time fewer than 60 birds were left in the wild, in the forests around São Miguel dos Campos.
Appearance
Feathers covering its body are black and glossy, with a blue-purple hue. Specimens of Pauxi mitu also has a large, bright red beak, flattened at its sides, with a white tip. The same red coloration found on its legs and feet.
The Alagoas curassow measures approximately 83–89 centimetres (33–35 in) in length.
Range and habitat
Pauxi mitu native habitat is subtropical/tropical moist lowland primary forest, where it was known to consume fruit of Phyllanthus, Eugenia and "mangabeira." It is extinct and extirpated in its native range in Alagoas and Pernambuco states, Northeastern Brazil. It was formerly found in forests in Northeastern Brazil in what is now the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas, that is the origin of its common name. German naturalist Georg Marcgrave first identified the Alagoas curassow in 1648 in its native range.
A reintroduction plan is being organized, though it faces challenges. One potential reintroduction site has been proposed.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
The Alagoas curassow is known to consume a diet of fruits and nuts. Due to their absence in the wild and lack of study previously conducted on these cracids before their extinction in the wild, not much is known about their breeding habits outside of captivity.
There has been a greater genetic variability amongst the Alagoas curassow after 1990, when hybrid breeding programs were introduced. Alagoas curassows were bred with closely related razor-billed curassows.
In crisis
It is now extinct in the wild. There are about 200 individuals in captivity. At that time fewer than 60 birds were left in the wild, in the forests around São Miguel dos Campos. Since 1977, the entire Alagoas Curassow population has been in captivity.
The population numbered 44 in 2000, and by 2008, there were 130 birds in two aviaries. As this species is extinct in the wild, the total population of 130 birds only persists in two separate captive populations.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix I. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Alagoas Curassow is Extinct in the Wild on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Alagoas Curassow, Wikidata item Q545554. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
