#anhima cornuta

[proton-wobbler]

Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta)

"The fact that the universe saw fit to let this thing exist" "horn, prominent spurs on wings, "The most peculiar feature of the screamers is a skin filled with small bubbles of air about a quarter of an inch thick, which produce a crackling sound when pressed; the function of this layer of air bubbles is unknown.""

Hey these guys are ducks! No I'm not lying- they're ducks! They belong to the same order as ducks, geese, and swans! What the fuck!

While my surface level digging did not confirm this, my thought is that screamers represent a branch in anseriformes where the ducks had recently split from gamebirds in galliformes, but hadnt yet specialized to have their spatulate bills. I'm not a source to quote on this though, as the paleontological record is a bit hazy for screamers.

For some actual facts: their horn is not a modified feather or something adjacent, but is "a cornified structure loosely attached to the skull, which frequently breaks off at the tip." They eat water plants but only have partially webbed feet. They have wing spurs. Despite being 8lb (3.5kg) birds, they nest on floating vegetation. What the heck is going on with these guys??

Sources:

Image Source: eBird (Bradley Hacke)

Horned screamer - Wikipedia

[terranlifeform]

Horned screamer (Anhima cornuta) in the Peruvian Amazon

Jess Findlay

[podartists]

Aniuma, Palamedea cornuta | Die Vogel (1913) | Alfred Edmund Brehm (1829-1884) | Biodiversity Heritage Library

[bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Horned Screamer

^image credit: Bill Bouton, Wikipedia

Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta) 

The Horned Screamer has a strange growth from its head that attaches loosely from the skull, which is unique among birds. Unlike other horned animals, which may use their horns for fighting, it is speculated that the Horned Screamer's 'horn' is merely decor, as it is fragile and often breaks at the tip, or even snap off once it gets too long - though it grows back.

[nightmare-birds]

Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta)

© Stephan Lorenz

[animalworld]

HORNED SCREAMER Anhima cornuta ©Joel Sartore

How did I not know this bird existed?

It’s a wetlands bird endemic to tropical South America. What makes it unique, is that it grows a bony cornified (keratinized) spike from it’s head, which frequently breaks and regrows, and it has a spur used for fighting, growing out of each wing.

©Pat ODonnell Rainforest Expeditions

The horned screamer is a massive 84–95 cm (33–37.5 in) long, 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) bird, with a small chicken-like bill. The upper parts, head, and breast are black, with white speckles on the crown, throat and wing coverts.

There is a long spiny structure projecting forward from the crown. This structure is unique among birds and is not derived from a feather but is a structure that is loosely attached to the skull and grows continuously. This gives this species its ‘horned’ name.

It has very long and lanky legs and three large toes in each. The belly and under wing coverts are white. It has two sharp spurs on its wings and feet which are only partially webbed.

The horned screamer's call, as its name suggests, is a very loud echoing sound. source

©Bill Bouton from San Luis Obispo, CA, USA Mostly they look like unicorn pheasants, more than the Anseriformes group they belong to which includes swans, geese and ducks. 

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Anhima cornuta

By Bill Bouton, CC BY-SA 2.0 

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Name: Anhima cornuta

Status: Extant

First Described: 1760

Described By: Linnaeus 

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Galloanserae, Anseriformes, Anhimae, Anhimidae

The Horned Screamer is our first Screamer - a group of very weird birds that for a while were actually thought to be more closely related to chickens than to ducks! However, it turns out that they are close relatives of ducks and geese - potentially most closely related to the Magpie Goose, but that’s under some debate. They are weird compared to other Anseriformes for a few reasons - they lack specialized structures in the ribs, they don’t have penises, and their skin actually has bubbles of air in it, so when you press on the skin (don’t press on a Screamer’s skin) it makes a crackling sound. Large birds, they have spurs on their wings to fight over mates, and they live in open areas and marshes and feed mainly on water plants. Their young are precocial, and they get their name from their excessively loud screams they make when they see new things, or threatening things. The Horned Screamer specifically is huge, about 84 to 95 centimeters in size, with a chicken-like beak. They’re black with some white speckles on their feathers and they have a spiny on the head - hence their name, Horned Screamer. They are mainly known from Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Suriname, French Guiana, and Guyana, and is not threatened with extinction at this time. They lay about three eggs at a time on floating vegetation in shallow water, which is anchored to the shore. 

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screamer 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_screamer

[nightmare-birds]

Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta)

© Leo Gonzales M.