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The American tropics are uniquely blessed with birds. Thirty-six % of the world’s 11,000 chicken species reside within the area south of the border between the US and Mexico, greater than in Asia or Africa.
That range is mirrored within the nationwide birds chosen to symbolize the nations of Latin America, from the slight southern lapwing — Uruguay’s avian image — to the 30-pound Andean condor, the nationwide chicken of 4 nations. Some birds carry Indigenous cultural significance; others had been as soon as ubiquitous in, or are endemic to, their nations.
However an more and more frequent attribute is a decline of their numbers, typically even within the nations they symbolize.
Golden eagle (Mexico)
Each little one in Mexico learns the story: Throughout nomadic instances, the Aztecs had a prophecy that they need to settle in a spot the place they noticed an eagle consuming a snake whereas perched on a cactus. That sighting led to the founding of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, later Mexico Metropolis.
The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) might be present in Russia, Central Asia, Europe and the Americas. Mexico is the eagle’s southernmost vary, in accordance with Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza, an ecologist on the College of Veracruz. Though the chicken is featured on objects like cash and soccer jerseys, it’s endangered in Mexico, and its inhabitants might be shrinking.
Current estimates recommend that there could also be solely about 200 grownup birds left in Mexico, Dr. Ruelas stated, though extra formal nationwide surveys have to be performed.
“It’s a lovely chicken, and it’s properly ingrained in our historical past,” Dr. Ruelas stated. “However we don’t see them fairly often.”
Resplendent quetzal (Guatemala)
Habitat loss is a significant factor within the decline of chicken populations throughout the area. Round 13 % of forest in Latin America and the Caribbean has been misplaced within the final 30 years, primarily due to agriculture and cattle ranching. Brazil accounts for many of that loss, however Guatemala alone misplaced greater than 26 % of its forests 1.25 million hectares, in regards to the dimension of California, Texas and Louisiana mixed — from 1990 to 2020.
That change has had a stark impact on Guatemala’s nationwide chicken, the resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), which breeds in high-elevation cloud forests and feeds in lower-elevation forests.
The quetzal’s iridescent inexperienced feathers adorned Quetzalcoatl, the serpent-headed god of the Aztecs and the Maya, and had been as soon as used as cash; the foreign money of contemporary Guatemala is named the quetzal. However the quetzal’s habitat necessities and reliance on kinds of avocado make it weak to local weather change and deforestation. The Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature has categorised the resplendent quetzal’s inhabitants as close to threatened.
Andean condor (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador)
Throughout many of the world, the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is recognized by a model of its Quechua title, kuntur. It is among the largest flying birds, has a 10-foot wingspan, and weighs as much as 33 kilos. Bolivia and Chile are strongholds for the species, however the inhabitants as a complete is weak, and the condor barely has a presence in Colombia and Ecuador. A survey in 2015 by the Andean Condor Basis estimated that solely round 100 adults remained in Ecuador.
Regardless of the chicken’s significance in some Indigenous cultures — it’s thought that condors carried souls to heaven — it’s hunted and poisoned, sometimes by farmers involved about their livestock. Condors compete with feral canines to search out carrion, and have typically resorted to killing child cows.
“That’s a giant downside with raptors in locations the place native communities are shut by,” stated Eliana Montenegro, a conservation officer primarily based in Ecuador with BirdLife Worldwide.
The intimidating options and dimension of raptors, such because the golden eagle, the condor and Panama’s harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja), make them charismatic nationwide symbols however also can appeal to human persecution.
Southern lapwing (Uruguay)Rufous hornero (Argentina)
The southern lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) and the rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus), each of which desire grasslands and pastures, have really benefited from the conversion of woodlands into farms and cattle ranches.
Frequent birds like these nonetheless have a task in mobilizing assist for conservation efforts, stated Luis Miguel Renjifo, a conservation biologist on the Pontifical Javeriana College.
Most Argentines can simply discover their nationwide chicken, the hornero — named for the oven like clay nests, or horneros, it builds — even within the parks of Buenos Aires. “They get folks excited,” Dr. Renjifo stated. “It brings that connection between birds and other people.”
Scarlet macaw (Honduras)
With so many stunning birds in Latin America, poaching for the worldwide pet market has grow to be a major downside, together with for the scarlet macaw (Ara macao).
The traditional Maya believed that macaws might journey between Earth and heaven, and their colourful feathers adorned the Maya and Aztec elite. Right this moment these feathers — in addition to the chicken’s tolerance for captivity and its potential to imitate human voices — make macaws a fascinating pet that may fetch upward of $3,000.
Populations are dwindling in a lot of Central America, and the scarlet macaw is weak in Honduras. However it has made some latest progress within the area, because of forest preservation efforts; applications like Macaw Mountain, which mixes tourism with conservation; and preparations, like one within the Mosquitia area, that pay former hunters to grow to be stewards.
However these accomplishments stay tenuous.
Can an emblem impress conservation efforts?
Understanding species inhabitants developments requires long-term information assortment, and conservation efforts can take many years to yield outcomes.
“It has required assets that haven’t been accessible in a number of the nations the place most biodiversity exists,” stated Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, co-director of the Middle for Avian Inhabitants Research on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
And the decline of a species in a single nation is much less prone to appeal to worldwide funding if the chicken’s world inhabitants shouldn’t be regarding.
Nonetheless, Dr. Ruelas and different scientists hope that the native decline of chicken species, particularly these which are nationwide symbols, will immediate the general public to take part in monitoring efforts or assist analysis and conservation insurance policies.
“A logo of nationwide id needs to be one thing that makes us work collectively,” Dr. Ruelas stated.
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