HOATZIN

Did you know? Nine in ten visitors to our Posada Amazonas lodge spot this funny bird!

The strange Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) isn’t as pretty as toucans, tanagers, and macaws. In fact, it wins the prize for the oddest bird in the Amazon. The Hoatzin spends its time loafing around oxbow lakes in the Amazon rainforest nearly as large as a turkey. It sits in bushes and small trees that grow at the water’s edge and grunt. It nips off leaves from the surrounding vegetation. They don’t pay much attention to people. When scared, they clumsily flap their way to a nearby branch.

This strange bird only occurs in the Amazon jungle and has no close relatives. Indeed, its heritage is a constant subject of debate among ornithologists. It has been placed with cuckoos, turkey-like birds. It was even considered to be some type of ancient prehistoric bird. Studies have indicated that the Hoatzin is not a living fossil. It belongs to an old lineage of birds that may have no close relatives. One recent study of Hoatzin fossils showed that it may even have its origin in Africa and could have reached South America by floating across the Atlantic Ocean on clumps of vegetation!

Whatever the truth may be about its evolutionary history, all guests of the Rainforest Expeditions eco-lodges stand a great chance of seeing one.

Hoatzin Fun Facts

• An old name: Indigenous people referred to it as something similar to a “pheasant.”


• An herbivore: The Hoatzin is one of the only primarily herbivorous birds on the globe. It rarely takes insect prey and spends most of its time picking out and eating succulent leaves from lakeside vegetation. Like cows, the Hoatzin uses bacteria to help digest the plant matter it consumes. It uses an enlarged crop for this purpose.


• Poor flyer: Hoatzins rarely fly. They are so reluctant to take to the air because they can barely fly. Most birds have strong breast muscles to flap their wings. Hoatzins have small breast muscles.


• Stinkbird: This is another commonly used name for the Hoatzin in many parts of its range. It is a reflection of their natural “Eau de parfum”. Hoatzins don’t have a particularly pleasant odor. After all, they are fermenting leaves.


• Born with clawed wings!: People believed Hoatzins were prehistoric because of the claws that young birds sport on their wings. This is an adaptation to keep them from falling into the water as they clamber around lakeside vegetation.