Philadelphia Zoo: Snapshot #3 - The Southern Crested Screamer

Or more properly "The Case of the Southern Crested Screamer and the Curiously Enthusiastic Volunteer Docent".  There's nothing to be solved here, I just like the way that sounds!  And I like a docent who is enthusiastic about her subjects.  The woman who was hanging out with this fetching pair certainly was and a font of information to boot.

These are Southern Crested Screamers, (Chauna torquata).  You can see even from my one photo that they are quite handsome birds.  Their pink legs and feet about the sturdiest I've ever seen on a mid-sized ground bird.  They are native to South America in the northern Pampas region of Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil.  They are also quite unusual for North American zoo collections.  Their advent in Philadelphia was orchestrated by the zoo's new head of ornithology.  What makes them truly special is their taxonomy.  Hidden under their ample plumage are two utterly unique characteristics.  First their ribs.  They don't cross over at their bases and connect to form a true "rib cage".  Second, at the first joint on the bones of their wings they have a single appendage with a claw.  (A claw that when lost in battle will regenerate itself like the limbs of a starfish or the tails of certain reptiles.)  And who do you suppose they share these two characteristics with?  None other than Archaeopteryx!--that ancient bird of fossil fame.  These are considered to be the most primitive of all of the bird species.

I feel like I ought to impersonate Paul Harvey and say, "And now you know the rest of the story.  Good day!"