Tinamous in Weltvogelpark Walsrode

Abstract

"Tinamou" -No it is not a fancy dessert that has been spelled wrong. Even though they remain little known they are indeed an important group of birds with their own taxonomic order; the Tinarniformes. They may look a little bit like dull chickens and often show a retired and

shy behavior in the wild, but they are so much more than just that.

The Tinamous belongs to a group of birds that everyone knows, they are Palaeognaths ! A group of birds which is different than all other living birds and compromises, in addition to the tinamous, also ostriches, rheas, emus, cassowaries and kiwis. These birds are the remaining survivors of a once larger group of birds and shares several anatomical features, notably in jaw and foot structure.

Distribution

The Tinamous are very successful in South America with more than 46 species they are distributed in almost all habitats from mountain desert to lowland rainforest. But why do they only exist in South-America? Fossil-remains do indicate that tinamous where once distributed throughout the southern hemisphere. Primitive looking tinarnoulike fossils with full wings have been found in the European and North American region suggesting that the ancestors of tinamous and ratites may have developed in the north and then dispersed south throughout the Gondwanaland.

Diet

Tinamous are not fussy when it comes to food and they will feed on almost anything from insects to roots and leaves.

A majority of the diet for most species is small seeds, particularly grass seeds but the species living in a forested environment do have a larger portion of berries and fruit in their diet.

Water is important for the tinamous that seem to be drinking at least once daily and they love to bathe together in a small group. Also sun- and sand-bathing is very much enjoyed which they seem to extend this for as long as possible.

 Social Life

It almost looks like the tinamous are experimenting with different social structures; between the different species of tinamous you find all kinds of different mating structures and hierarchies.

A few species live in monogamous pairs and aggressively chase others away at least for part of the year, others live in large groups where a seemingly equal numbers of males and females live and breed together without aggression, a so called polygynandry.

Many species form polygynous harems where the male will attract several females in his area until he has a nest full with eggs and starts incubating. Thereafter the females will generally leave the area and mate with another male. There is also the polyandrous version where the female will mate with different males between each egg. In general the female tinamous are larger and more colorful than the males and it is always the males that care for the household business of caring for eggs and young.

 

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