The Penelopina nigra is also known as the Highland Gaun. They get up to about 59 to 65cm and weigh up to 0.86-0.92 kg .The adult male are black overall with a sheen of bluish-green with a red bill. The adult female are brown over all with a grey bill.

 

The Penelopina nigra is found in evergreen. The climate is humid and cloudy. The altitudes range between 1,000 to 3,300 meters. Low elevations range from 300 to 900 meters. The range is Southern Mexico, Northern Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador. There population is 91,000 individuals. There species is declining rapidly and is likely to continue. In Mexico it is prohibited to hunt them and is legally protected in El Salvador. The reason why it is declining, because of the alteration, and hunting predators.

 

They are mainly frugivorous, but also feeds on arthropods and vertebrates. It plucks fruit from all forest trees.

 

Penelopina nigra is hunted by many other predators from where they live, such as the Ornate Hawk, Black hawk, and the fulvous Owl. The Emerald Toucanet hunts the eggs from the mother.

 

A interest fact about the Penelopina nigra is that it walks on tree branches.  

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Author: Miraya B

Date Published: 2/2014

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Sources: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=94, http://www.arkive.org/highland-guan/penelopina-nigra/, http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=80391.

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Photo Credit: Fernando Reyes Palencia