Fun Little Tinamou Facts For Kids

Let us explore the almost tailless gamebird, the little tinamou. The little tinamou (Crypturellus soui), as the Latin name suggests, has a hidden tail, and it is dull-colored.

This stout and short-winged bird has a slaty black head with gray-colored sides. The underparts are bright brown, and the external throat is whitish.

Still, when you catch a glimpse of the infamous Crypturellus soui of order Tinamiformes, you will notice that it has brownish-yellow eyes and greenish-yellow legs and feet, and a tiny hidden tail. The tinamou birds drink water with their bill by sucking and swallowing, unlike most other birds that lift their heads to swallow the water.

The tinamou birds feed on insects found on leaves on the ground. They follow a pecking behavior to catch the insects. If the insect is giant, they peck on it before eating it.

They also feed on seeds and small fruits. When threatened, the birds may freeze midway or dive into a nearby bush for cover. The birds are small and enjoy bathing in the rain and sunbathing.

You can read more interesting stuff about similar birds like hyacinth macaw and eastern kingbird.

Little Tinamou Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a little tinamou?

Little tinamou (Crypturellus soui) is a small bird, dull in appearance. It is similar to other flightless little ground birds found in a forest like the grouse and quail.

What class of animal does a little tinamou belong to?

The little tinamou belongs to the class Aves of the kingdom Animalia.

How many little tinamous are there in the world?

The little tinamou bird (Crypturellus soui) order family has a massive population on the map of birds of the world.

Where does a little tinamou live?

Suppose you are looking for the rarely seen Crypturellus soui order family bird with a shy behavior. You can search for this bird in tropical woodlands, forests bordering rivers, dense evergreen forests, lowland shrublands, and secondary forests.

The birds are also found at a high altitude level of 6600 ft (2011.6 m). Crypturellus soui genus bird can also be found in the external sugarcane fields or cleared forest range habitat.

What is a little tinamou's habitat?

Crypturellus soui family genus habitat includes forest habitats like evergreen forests, river edge forests, secondary forests, and lowland shrublands. Sometimes you can see the little tinamou hiding behind a shrub in plantations, fields, or deserted forests as it is secretive in nature.

Who do little tinamous live with?

Little tinamous lead a sedentary lifestyle, but also form groups when not breeding.

How long does a little tinamou live?

Their exact age is unknown, but breeding behavior observations suggest that they can produce three generations over ten years.

How do they reproduce?

Little tinamou Crypturellus soui birds reproduce throughout the year. However, the breeding season comes around May to October. The birds produce one to four eggs in one breeding period, which the male tinamous birds incubate for 19 days.

What is their conservation status?

They are classified as of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List. This is because they have a vast population.

Little Tinamou Fun Facts

What do little tinamous look like?

Little tinamou (Crypturellus soui) is counted among the population of ground-dwelling flightless birds on the world map. They are small, dumpy, and solitary birds.

Tinamou birds at 7.8 oz (221.1 g) are not very long, measuring 8.7-9.4 in (22-23.8 cm), and can easily hide behind bushes in the forest of the neotropical region.

This odd-looking tinamou (Crypturellus soui) has a gray head that turns whitish at the throat and ends in a sooty brown plumage. With bright brown underparts and olive, gray, or yellow legs, the bird is not very attractive to look at, but the bird draws your attention with a shy behavior personality.

How cute are they?

The little tinamou (Crypturellus soui) has a cute name sans the looks. They have dull sooty plumage, with dark brown underparts and gray color on their head. Tinamou birds are timid and prefer to lead sedentary and solitary lives.

How do they communicate?

Both sexes of the (Crypturellus soui) family genus communicate, especially during breeding time, by a slow whistling call, solitary note sounds, and sometimes whining sounds. However, when the whistling sounds seem to end, the tempo increases and leaves a lasting impression on the listener.

How big is a little tinamou?

As the name suggests, little tinamou(Crypturellus soui) is a small size bird-like grouse and quail and can be seen shuffling and making whistling sounds in the dark bushes and shrubs. The average length of a little tinamou is 8.7-9.4 in (22-23.8 cm).

How fast can a little tinamou fly?

Though a little slow, little tinamou (Crypturellus soui) can fly better than most flightless ratites such as emus and ostriches. However, the exact speed of their flight is unknown.

How much does a little tinamou weigh?

The little tinamou weighs 7.8 oz (221.1 g) and is small in size.

What are the male and female names of the species?

The male and female Crypturellus soui birds are called the male little tinamou and female little tinamou.

What would you call a baby little tinamou?

Baby little tinamous are called chicks.

What do they eat?

The little tinamou (Crypturellus soui) eats small insects, berries, and seeds. Apart from humans, they are hunted by skunks, armadillos, and foxes.

Are they poisonous?

No, they are not poisonous.

Would they make a good pet?

The history of that history of these birds of the world states that the domestication of little tinamou (Crypturellus soui) has not been very successful, especially when breeding. Therefore these solitary tinamou birds do not make good pets.

Did you know...

According to history, the species Crypturellus soui was identified by the French naturalist and physician Hermann in 1783. The Crypturellus soui species birds of the world are located in North of South America and Central and Central South America.

Tinamou birds are also found in the north and eastern parts of Brazil, South and East Venezuela, Eastern Colombia, French Guiana, and Suriname. Unlike tinamou birds, the Panamensis subspecies are found on the coasts of Panama.

The Crypturellus soui is also called tinamus soui. The small bird is a resident breeder in shrublands of forests like river edge, evergreen secondary, and tropical lowland region of forests.

It lays bright purple eggs of size 1.6-1.3 in (410.6-33 mm) in length. A phenomenon called nanostructure coloration imparts the bright purple color covered on the Crypturellus soui eggs. Unlike, the bright colors are only covered on the outer shell, while on the inside, the eggs have a regular dull blue color.

Out of the breeding season, the tinamou birds are found in groups in the forest region. The population of little tinamou birds is found to be adequate in occurrence and has been listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List.

However, it has been observed that various species of tinamou are often bred for hunting or meat.

Little tinamou birds are notorious for hiding in the undergrowth of the forests, and it isn't easy to find them.

But hunters often mimic the sound of their slow whistling during the breeding season to bring the birds out of their hideout. Tinamou meat is considered a delicacy in America, but it has been observed that tinamou birds do not favor domestication.

What is so unique about the tinamou bird?

The Crypturellus soui or tinamus soui birds with a black bill are very shy in behavior or rarely seen and prefer to be solitary. However, you can see them in groups hiding behind shrubs in the forests.

They eat small fruits or berries that they search for in the undergrowth. The birds are sedentary, but they may make a quick move and hide behind a bush when frightened.

The other unique factor of tinamous is; they are the only ground-dwelling bird that lay brilliantly colored eggs.

What does tinamou mean?

Tinamou means a neotropical ground welling bird. Its scientific name is Crypturellus soui, and the taxonomy has been derived from the Latin taxonomy words kruptos, oura, and ellus, meaning hidden, tail, and diminutive, respectively. Therefore, it is also commonly called tinamus soui.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Amazon parrot facts and blue-winged teal facts for kids.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable tinamou coloring pages.