The hoatzin: a prehistoric relative

A bird that still retains the Upper Jurassic evolutionary traits, that climbs and dives through the channels of the river Orinoco, the most important of Venezuela. From an early age, they circumvent the threat of any predator with such efficiency that has allowed a high population of the species to be kept.

Like any bird, the hoatzin or water chachalaca is part of a vital cycle in aquatic ecosystems. Known in the scientific world as Opisthocomus hoazín, it is one of the three species of bird with claws on its wings, similar to those found in dinosaur Archaeopteryx, a fossil considered the missing link between reptiles and birds that lived in Germany 145 million years ago.

The other birds with these characteristics are the ostrich and the touraco; however the hoatzin has the same lifestyle as its relative is thought to have lived: it jumps, flutters, and throws itself in the rivers it inhabits. Reason enough to lead the drive for preservation of this peculiar bird of the Orinoco River corridor.