5-470: Screamer is a family of bird species. Screamer may also refer to: Screamer The screamers are three South American bird species placed in family Anhimidae . They were thought to be related to the Galliformes because of similar bills , but are more closely related to the family Anatidae , i.e. ducks and allies, and the magpie goose , within the clade Anseriformes . The clade
10-823: A partial moult and are able to fly throughout the year. They live in open areas and marshes with some grass and feed on water plants. One species, the southern screamer, is considered a pest as it raids crops and competes with farm birds. Screamers typical lay 4–5 white eggs, with clutches ranging between 2 and 7 . Like most Anseriformes , the chicks can run as soon as they are hatched. They can swim better than they can run, so young screamers are usually raised in or near water, where they can better avoid predators. Like ducks, screamer chicks imprint early in life. That, and their unspecialized omnivorous diet makes them amenable to domestication. They can be excellent guard animals, due to their loud alarm calls ("screams") when encountering anything new and possibly threatening. Both
15-421: Is exceptional within the living birds in lacking uncinate processes of ribs . The three species are: The horned screamer ( Anhima cornuta ); the southern screamer or crested screamer ( Chauna torquata ); and the northern screamer or black-necked screamer ( Chauna chavaria ). Screamers have a poor fossil record. A putative Eocene specimen is known from Wyoming , while the more modern Chaunoides antiquus
20-639: Is known from the late Oligocene to early Miocene in Brazil . Anhimids are most similar to presbyornithids , with which they form a clade to the exclusion of the rest of Anseriformes. Given the presence of lamelae in the otherwise fowl-like beaks of screamers, it is even possible that they evolved from presbyornithid-grade birds, reverting from a filter-feeding lifestyle to an herbivorous one. The three species occur only in South America , ranging from Colombia to northern Argentina . The horned screamer
25-466: Was once present on the Caribbean island of Trinidad , but is now extirpated from there. They are large, bulky birds, with a small downy head, long legs and large feet which are only partially webbed. They have large spurs on their wings which are used in fights over mates and territorial disputes; these can break off in the breast of other screamers, and are regularly renewed. Unlike ducks, they have
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