Great tinamou | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Tinamiformes |
Family: | Tinamidae |
Subfamily: | Tinaminae |
Genus: | Tinamus |
Species: | T. major |
Binomial name | |
Tinamus major (Gmelin, 1789 [originally Tetrao]) |
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Sub-species | |
T. m. percautus (Van Tyne, 1935) |
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Synonyms | |
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T. m. percautus (Van Tyne, 1935)
T. m. robustus (Sclater & Salvin,1868)
T. m. fuscipennis (Salvador, 1895)
T. m. castaneiceps (Salvadori, 1895)
T. m. brunniventris (Aldrich, 1937)
T. m. saturatus (Griscom, 1929)
T. m. latifrons (Salvadori, 1895)
T. m. zuliensis
(Osgood & Conover, 1929)
T. m. major (Gmelin, 1789)
T. m. olivascens (Conover, 1937)
T. m. peruvianus (Bonaparte, 1856)
T. m. serratus (Spix, 1825)
The great tinamou (Tinamus major) is a species of tinamou ground bird native to Central and South America. There are several subspecies, mostly differentiated by their coloration.
Great tinamou are approximately 44 cm (17 in) long, 1.1 kg (2.4 lb) in weight and size and shape of a small turkey. It ranges from light to dark olive-green in color with a whitish throat and belly, flanks barred black, and undertail cinnamon. Crown and neck rufous, occipital crest and supercilium blackish. Its legs are blue-grey in color. All these features enable great tinamou to be well-camouflaged in the rainforest understory.
The great tinamou has a distinctive call, three short, tremulous, but powerful piping notes which can be heard in its rainforest habitat in the early evenings.