Cracids in North American collections

C

CaliHans

Well-Known Member
The thread about hornbills in North America got me thinking about cracids in North American collections. Several species used to be common in zoos and private aviculture up until at least the mid-1990s. Populations of Blue-billed and Northern Helmeted Curassow is increasing at least in AZA collections whilst there is a continual decrease for all other species. Given how rare they are these days I have choosen to include birds I know of in private breeding facilities.

Apart from the species covered by studbooks (Blue-billed, Northern Helmeted and Wattled Currasow) my data is probably quite out-dated though so any inputs greatly appreciated!

Northern Helmeted Curassow (Pauxi pauxi pauxi)
Biodome de Montreal 0.1
Busch Gardens Tampa 1.1
Cincinnati Zoo 1.0
Dallas World Aquarium 11.8.4
Denver Zoo 0.1
Fresno Chaffee Zoo 1.1
Greenville Zoo 1.0
Houston Zoo 1.2
Zoo Miami 1.2
Albuquerque Biological Park 1.1
San Antonio Zoo 1.1
San Diego Zoo 1.1
Saint Louis Zoo 1.1
Tracy Aviary 1.2
Wildlife World Zoo 1.0
White Oak Conservation Center 1.2
Pinola Aviary
Sylvan Heights Bird Park
Capital of Texas Zoo
Rio Grande Zoo

Great Curassow (Crax rubra)
Los Angeles Zoo
Capital of Texas Zoo
Wildlife World Zoo
Gladys Porter Zoo
San Francisco Zoo
Sylvan Heights Bird Park
Lowry Park Zoo

Black Curassow (Crax alector)
Hattiesburg Zoo

Wattled Curassow (Crax globulosa)
Audubon Zoo 1.1
Caldwell Zoo 1.1
Chicago Zoo 1.1
Dallas World Aquarium 2.2
Houston Zoo 1.2.3
Milwaukee County Zoo 1.0
National Aviary 0.1
Staten Island Zoo 1.1
Wildlife World Zoo 1.1
White Oak Conservation Center 1.2
Sylvan Heights Bird Park

Yellow-knobbed Curassow (Crax daubentoni)
Micke Grove Zoo
Reid Park Zoo
Philadelphia Zoo
Houston Zoo

Blue-billed Curassow (Crax alberti)
Chicago Zoo 1.1
Audubon Species Survival Centre 1.0
Dallas World Aquarium 6.4
Houston Zoo 2.4
Jacksonville Zoo 1.1
Los Angeles Zoo 1.1
Zoo Miami 1.1
Nashville Zoo 1.1
Bronx Zoo 1.1
Smithsonian National Zoo 1.1
Phoenix Zoo 1.1
San Diego Zoo 1.1
Woodland Park Zoo 1.1
Sedgwick County Zoo 1.1
St Augustine Alligator Farm 1.1
White Oak Conservation Center 3.5

Razor-billed Currasow (Mitu tuberosum)
Dallas World Aquarium
Pinola Aviary

Nocturnal Curassow (Nothocrax urumutum)
Dallas World Aquarium

Blue-throated Piping-guan (Pipile cumanensis)
Busch Gardens Tampa
Denver Zoo?
Miller Park Zoo
Ellen Trout Zoo?
Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden?
Phoenix Zoo
Philadelphia Zoo
Toronto Zoo
Topeka Zoo

Wattled Guan (Aburria aburri)
Dallas World Aquarium

Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula mccalli)
Gladys Porter Zoo

Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis)
Tracys Aviary

Horned Guan (Oreophasis derbianus)
Dallas World Aquarium
Saint Louis Zoo
 
These are the ones I know of:

Fort Worth Zoo: blue-throated piping guan, plain chachalaca
Dallas World Aquarium: Northern helmeted curassow, nocturnal curassow, bare-faced curassow, blue-billed curassow
Houston Zoo: Northern helmeted curassow, blue-billed curassow
Sedgwick County Zoo: yellow-knobbed curassow
San Diego Zoo: Northern helmeted curassow
 
CaliHans said:
Chicago Zoo
Click to expand...
There is no such place as the Chicago Zoo :p. There are two zoos in Chicago, the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Brookfield Zoo. You must mean the Brookfield Zoo because if it was the Brookfield Zoo, both of these would be correct:
CaliHans said:
Wattled Curassow (Crax globulosa)
Chicago Zoo
Click to expand...

CaliHans said:
Blue-billed Curassow (Crax alberti)
Chicago Zoo
Click to expand...
Also:
CaliHans said:
Northern Helmeted Curassow (Pauxi pauxi pauxi)
Click to expand...
Also kept by the Lincoln Park Zoo.
 
Great to see that the Blue-billed curassow is kept at such a large number ( 16 ! ) of collections, wasn't aware of this !
 
Sylvan heights Bird park N.C. holds:
Great curassow -(Crax rubra)
Helmeted curassow -(Pauxi pauxi pauxi)
Black curassow -(Crax alector)
Bare faced curassow -( Crax fasciolata)
Wattled curassow- (Crax globulosa)
Yellow knobbed curassow- (Crax daubentoni)
 
Is there any information about the founder-size and orgin of the North American Blue-billed curassow-population ?
 
vogelcommando said:
Is there any information about the founder-size and orgin of the North American Blue-billed curassow-population ?
Click to expand...
The gene pool is very small. The population had dwindled to only six birds before a breeding program began. Three birds were imported from the private collection of Dr. Estudillo in Mexico by the Dallas World Aquarium, and the rest of the new genes have been via swaps with Europe or other regions that hold the species (I think Japan?).
 
cuckooduck said:
Sylvan heights Bird park N.C. holds:
Great curassow -(Crax rubra)
Helmeted curassow -(Pauxi pauxi pauxi)
Black curassow -(Crax alector)
Bare faced curassow -( Crax fasciolata)
Wattled curassow- (Crax globulosa)
Yellow knobbed curassow- (Crax daubentoni)
Click to expand...
Are red-billed (C. blumenbachii) no longer kept? I haven’t seen them there but I know they were at least in 2015.
 
@jayjds2 They did not hold them when i last visited in November 2017. The old curassow barn at the park was demolished to make way for the new wings of the tropics exhibit, so they did send a couple of curassows to other collections.
 
The San Francisco Zoo currently has the only Spix's guan in North America; that individual is a female.
 
After talking to a keeper at San Francisco Zoo, their female Spix's guan, "Guanita", passed away over a year ago. She was the only Spix's guan in North America.

Oakland has a pair of great curassows.

San Francisco Zoo currently houses a female great curassow and a blue-throated piping guan.

Fresno Chaffee has a female blue-throated piping-guan. Fresno Chaffee no longer has northern helmeted curassows.

Brookfield houses a northern helmeted curassow, pair of blue-billed curassows, and a wattled curassow.

Lincoln Park Zoo has a northern helmeted curassow.

Micke Grove no longer has a yellow-knobbed curassow.
 
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