Crypturellus boucardislaty-breasted tinamou

Ge­o­graphic Range

Slaty-breasted tina­mous are na­tive to the Neotrop­i­cal re­gion. There are found in the same range year round, from south­ern Mex­ico to north­ern Costa Rica through Guatemala, Be­lize, Hon­duras, and Nicaragua (Lan­caster, 1964a) (Lan­caster, 1964a)

Habi­tat

Slaty-breasted tina­mous are most often found in tall, wet forests with canopies rang­ing from 10 to 25 me­ters in height and seem to re­quire at least some pro­tec­tive un­der­growth, though the amount can range from very thick to quite sparse (Lan­caster, 1964a). Slaty-breasted tina­mous can also be found in areas of de­graded farm-land or re­gen­er­at­ing plan­ta­tions and are often found in damp areas around for­est edges. (Lan­caster, 1964a)

  • Range elevation
    0 to 1800 m
    0.00 to 5905.51 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The breast feath­ers are a dark slaty gray, the head is black­ish and the throat is white. The back can range be­tween black and chest­nut. The legs are pink to bright red. Fe­males of this species have bar­ring on their wings. (Grz­imek, et al., 2005)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • sexes colored or patterned differently
  • Average mass
    470 g
    16.56 oz
  • Average length
    27.5 cm
    10.83 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Males es­tab­lish a ter­ri­tory within their home range and at­tract two to four fe­males. After mat­ing, the fe­males lay the eggs in a nest at the base of a tree or in dense veg­e­ta­tion and leave to find an­other mate. The male in­cu­bates the eggs alone. (Lan­caster, 1964b)

Males begin call­ing to es­tab­lish ter­ri­tory in early March and mat­ing oc­curs from then until early May (some males may nest as early as Jan­u­ary and as late as June). Fe­males may lay 2-3 eggs and males may mate with 2-4 fe­males. Males may nest mul­ti­ple times dur­ing a sea­son and fe­males mate with other males after leav­ing pre­vi­ous mates. Eggs are laid on the ground in thick veg­e­ta­tion or at the base of a large tree (most often in tree but­tresses). Nests of 4-12 eggs are in­cu­bated by the male once the fe­males leave. Males are very at­ten­tive to the eggs, stay­ing with them for al­most two days at a time some­times and only leav­ing briefly to for­age. Eggs hatch after about 16 days of in­cu­ba­tion, and the male calls the chicks out of the nest less than a day later. Males aban­don the chicks after sev­eral days, leav­ing them to fend for them­selves. (Lan­caster, 1964b)

  • Breeding interval
    Slaty-breasted tinamous breed multiple times with different partners during their breeding season.
  • Breeding season
    Breeding may occur from January to late April.
  • Range eggs per season
    1 to 12
  • Average time to hatching
    16 days
  • Range time to independence
    18 (low) days

Fe­male slaty-breasted tina­mous leave males shortly after the eggs are laid, leav­ing in­cu­ba­tion up to the males. Males pro­tect nests from preda­tors and at­tempt to kick leaves on to the eggs to hide them when leav­ing to for­age. Males call the young off the nest after hatch­ing, then aban­don them a few days later. (Lan­caster, 1964b)

  • Parental Investment
  • precocial
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • protecting
      • male

Lifes­pan/Longevity

There is no avail­able in­for­ma­tion on slaty-breasted tinamou longevity.

Be­hav­ior

Slaty-breasted tina­mous are soli­tary an­i­mals, and even when they meet with oth­ers, do not in­ter­act (un­less they are both males and one is de­fend­ing ter­ri­tory). Slaty-breasted tina­mous feed in a man­ner sim­i­lar to do­mes­tic fowl; mov­ing er­rat­i­cally along the for­est floor while for­ag­ing for seeds, fruits, ants, ter­mites, and oc­ca­sion­ally small lizards or frogs. Un­like do­mes­tic fowl how­ever, tina­mous do not use their feet to scratch the ground or move de­bris to search for food, the in­stead toss leaves and twigs with their beak (Lan­caster, 1964a).

When alarmed, slaty-breasted tina­mous may freeze, then try to walk away stealth­ily. If the preda­tor is ap­proach­ing the tinamou, it may run in a zig-zag pat­tern, uti­liz­ing as much cover as pos­si­ble. It is only when they are in im­me­di­ate dan­ger (or sur­prised) and there are no other op­tions that they take to the air with a loud burst of wing­beats, fly­ing rather clum­sily for short dis­tances to es­cape (Lan­caster, 1964a). (Lan­caster, 1964a)

Home Range

Males have home ranges that are much larger than the area they ac­tively de­fend (ter­ri­tory) and home ranges often over­lap with those of other males. Smaller ter­ri­to­ries within the home range are de­fended and used for courtship with fe­males. Males de­fend ter­ri­tory with call­ing-du­els, or if a rival male has en­tered an­other male’s ter­ri­tory, it may be at­tacked and chased by the de­fend­ing male for five to ten yards.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Males call more often to es­tab­lish and de­fend ter­ri­tory and to at­tract mates. Fe­males join in duets with males dur­ing courtship. A mated male and its fe­males will use recog­ni­tion calls to com­mu­ni­cate within the male’s ter­ri­tory. Males may also use recog­ni­tion calls when call­ing to hatch­lings be­fore aban­don­ing them (Lan­caster, 1964b). Fe­male calls are some­what more nasal and have a whin­ing qual­ity. Call­ing seems to occur most often in the morn­ing and evening (Lan­caster 1964a). The slaty-breasted tinamou's call is often char­ac­ter­ized as a low ah-oowah sound (Grz­imek, Schlaeger and Olen­dorf, 2005). (Grz­imek, et al., 2005; Lan­caster, 1964a; Lan­caster, 1964b)

  • Other Communication Modes
  • duets

Food Habits

Slaty-breasted tina­mous feed on fruits and seeds, as well as in­sects such as ants and ter­mites. Frogs and lizards may be con­sumed on oc­ca­sion. For­ag­ing be­hav­ior is sim­i­lar to that seen in do­mes­tic fowl, in­volv­ing er­ratic move­ments and peck­ing the ground for seeds, fruits, or in­sects. (Lan­caster, 1964b)

  • Animal Foods
  • amphibians
  • reptiles
  • insects
  • Plant Foods
  • seeds, grains, and nuts
  • fruit

Pre­da­tion

The eggs of slaty-breasted tina­mous may be preyed upon by snakes or coatis, adults may be preyed upon by ocelots, jaguars, foxes, snakes, and hu­mans. Slaty-breasted tina­mous freeze ini­tially in re­sponse to a threat, then try to stealth­ily walk away. They will fly only in re­sponse to an im­mi­nent threat. Tina­mous are cryp­ti­cally col­ored.

  • Anti-predator Adaptations
  • cryptic

Ecosys­tem Roles

Slaty-breasted tina­mous may be im­por­tant in the dis­per­sal of undi­gested seeds and seeds from con­sumed fruits.

  • Ecosystem Impact
  • disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Slay-breasted tina­mous are a game species and are hunted through­out their range.

  • Positive Impacts
  • food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of slaty-breasted tina­mous on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Slaty-breasted tina­mous have be­come rare in parts of their range where they are heav­ily hunted but are very com­mon in other areas. They are listed on the IUCN Red List as a species of least con­cern.

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Ken­neth Falken­stein (au­thor), North­ern Michi­gan Uni­ver­sity, Alec R. Lind­say (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), North­ern Michi­gan Uni­ver­sity.

Glossary

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

agricultural

living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cryptic

having markings, coloration, shapes, or other features that cause an animal to be camouflaged in its natural environment; being difficult to see or otherwise detect.

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
duets

to jointly display, usually with sounds in a highly coordinated fashion, at the same time as one other individual of the same species, often a mate

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

food

A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

mountains

This terrestrial biome includes summits of high mountains, either without vegetation or covered by low, tundra-like vegetation.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

polyandrous

Referring to a mating system in which a female mates with several males during one breeding season (compare polygynous).

polygynandrous

the kind of polygamy in which a female pairs with several males, each of which also pairs with several different females.

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sedentary

remains in the same area

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

solitary

lives alone

tactile

uses touch to communicate

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

visual

uses sight to communicate

young precocial

young are relatively well-developed when born

Ref­er­ences

Grz­imek, B., N. Schlaeger, D. Olen­dorf. 2005. "Grz­imek's An­i­mal Life En­cy­clo­pe­dia: Slaty-breasted tinamou" (On-line). Ac­cessed March 22, 2008 at http://​www.​answers.​com/​topic/​slaty-breasted-tinamou.

Lan­caster, D. 1964. Life His­tory of the Bou­card Tinamou in British Hon­duras. Part I: Dis­tri­b­u­tion and. The Con­dor, Vol. 66, No. 3: 165-181.

Lan­caster, D. 1964. Life His­tory of the Bou­card Tinamou in British Hon­duras. Part II: Breed­ing. The Con­dor, Vol. 66, No. 4: 253-276.