Pauxi mitu (Linnaeus, 1766)

Pereira, Glauco Alves, Dantas, Sidnei de Melo, Silveira, Luís Fábio, Roda, Sônia Aline, Albano, Ciro, Sonntag, Frederico Acaz, Leal, Sergio, Periquito, Mauricio Cabral, Malacco, Gustavo Bernardino & Lees, Alexander Charles, 2014, Status of the globally threatened forest birds of northeast Brazil, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (São Paulo) 54 (14), pp. 177-194 : 185

Pauxi mitu (Linnaeus, 1766) , Alagoas Curassow

(IUCN and MMA: EW; Fig. 4 )

The last observations of this species from the wild were made in lowland forest fragments at Roteiro, Barra de São Miguel , Pilar, and Marechal Deodoro in the mid 1980s ( Teixeira, 1986; Silveira et al., 2004). There have been no subsequent sightings by ornithologists in the region and semi-structured interviews with local people living around suitable forest fragments failed to indicate any recent sightings (Silveira et al., 2004, GAP unpublished data). However, prior to this species’ extinction in the wild, a few individuals were captured and a captive breeding program was launched. This program is now composed of both hybrids (with Razor-billed Currasow Pauxi tuberosa ) and pure-bred individuals, and is currently run by two aviculturists in Minas Gerais, Brazil (see Silveira et al., 2004). This captive population, now numbering over 100 pure-bred individuals, is subject to genetic management (Francisco et al., in prep.) with a reintroduction program scheduled to start in 2015 in Alagoas .

Figures

FIGURE 4: Pauxi mitu (Linnaeus, 1766), Alagoas Curassow, Captive bird, Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, June 2008 (Luís Fábio Silveira).