Birds · Musophagiformes · Musophagidae

Guinea Turaco

Tauraco persa

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The green turaco or Guinea turaco is a bird of intense green with a white-tipped crest and large crimson patches on the wings that show only in flight. It lives in groups in the canopy of the West African forests, feeding on fruit. It is one of the species that best illustrates the chemical peculiarity of its family: the turacos are the only birds with genuine green and red pigments.

Weight

220 g – 330 g

Size

40 cm – 43 cm

Lifespan

20 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

In pairs

Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

RainforestHerbivore Diurnal In pairs Bird Rainforest

14countries 14parks7same family

Fun facts

Its green is a real pigment called turacoverdin, with copper in the molecule, and it is the only true green pigment in the bird kingdom: in every other species green is an optical effect of the structure of the feather.
Its red, turacin, also contains copper and is soluble in alkaline water: a wet feather can turn the water pink, something that baffled nineteenth-century naturalists.
It moves through the canopy by running and leaping between branches rather than by flying, thanks to a fourth toe that it can rotate forwards or backwards as required.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Rainforest, gallery forest and secondary forest of West Africa
Birth weight: Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent
Size at birth: Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent
Sexual maturity: 2 years
Gestation / incubation: 23 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size: 2 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauraco_persa

Where to find it

See its range on the interactive map

Best time: All year round in the forests of West Africa, by day; it is detected by its deep call and by the intense red it shows when it opens its wings.