The anchovy green-biting crane is a gorgeous bird in the family Cuckoo family. Distributed from southern Mexico to western Panama, other birds of the family Oysteridae are found in South America and Eastern Panama. They occupy an important place in Central American mythology.
Realm: Animal kingdom Animalia
Phylum: Chordata phylum Chordata
Order: Ornithischia Aves
Order: Trogoniformes
Genus: Pharomachrus
Species: Anchovy green-biting p. mocinno
The anchovy green-biting flea is 36–40 cm long and weighs about 210 g.
The male's striking tail feathers can reach a length of up to 64 cm.
The anchovy has a red thorax and green feathers, ranging from metallic green to blue-purple when viewed from different angles. The red thorax has a narrow half-moon-shaped white ring.
Usually the feathers of the first wing obscure the tail feathers, and only males during the breeding season will see the long tail feathers.
Because the skin of the anchovy green-biting cuckoo is thin and easy to tear, they must evolve thicker feathers to protect them.
Males have a helmet-like crown, male adults have yellow beaks and females are black. Have a pair of large eyes to cope with the darker environment within the forest.
Male anchovies green-tailed quails
Female anchovies green-tailed grebes
The anchovy is a specialized fruit-eating animal that occasionally eats insects (mainly wasps, ants and larvae) and frogs, but the most important food for them is the extremely nutritious avocado and members of its family.
They swallow the whole fruit before spitting it out by rumination, which indirectly helps the seeds to spread.
It inhabits the deep mountain forests of Central America (from southern Mexico to Panama) and prefers to be alone during the non-breeding season. After the breeding season, the females chisel small holes in the rotting trees to accommodate them and lay two pale blue eggs.
Since the female of the anchovy green-biting crane lays eggs only on these large trees that have been damaged by damage, the lack of sufficient large trees to be damaged by bad weather also indirectly affects the breeding rate of this bird.
Both parents will incubate, with the long coverts on the tail curled up in the hole and a small portion disguised as a bunch of ferns growing from the hole.
Incubation takes about 18 days, with the males generally hatching during the day, while the females stay in the cave at night to continue working. After hatching, both parents will look around for food, such as species, berries, insects, lizards and tiny frogs. Nevertheless, females are generally less interested in caring for their young, and even in the most vulnerable periods they often disregard their needs and leave all the burden to the males until they are independent.
Juvenile anchovies retain a pair of primitive claws, like those of Archaeopteryx, which disappear as adults.
Paul of the Key
The species name mocinno comes from the publisher Pablo de la Llave, who latinized the bird after his mentor, José Mariano Mociño.
Its common English name quetzal comes from the Nahuatl language, which means a bird with long, straight feathers.
In many Mesoamerican languages, the word "quetzal" also has a precious, sacred meaning.
Feather snake god
Painted in the Manuscript of Maria Becchiano
In the ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures, the anchovy green-biting crane was considered the embodiment of the feathered serpent god (quetzal god) and enjoyed a sacred status. Occupying an important place in the American civilization before the invasion of European colonists, in the eyes of the ancient Maya and Aztecs, they were the embodiment of the feathered serpent god, symbolizing the kingdom of heaven and the soul, and it was strictly forbidden to kill the green biter, and the offender was punished with capital punishment.
The feathered serpent god is a deity widely believed in Mesoamerican civilizations, and the image is often depicted as a feathered snake. According to legend, feather snakes dominated the morning star, invented books, calendars, and brought corn to humans.
The green-biting cuckoo has never been fed for long periods of time, always dying some time after being caught, and for this reason it is seen as a symbol of freedom. According to legend, before the Spanish colonists invaded, the anchovy green bitebird always sang beautifully, after the colonizers invaded, it began to be silent, and when Guatemala was liberated, they began to sing again.