biology

Pale-browed tinamou

Pale-browed tinamou is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pale-browed tinamou rather than just read about it. In short: The pale-browed tinamou (Crypturellus transfasciatus) is a type of tinamou found in tropical dry forests in Peru and Ecuador. Etymology Crypturellus is formed from three Latin or Greek words.

Key takeaways

Pale-browed tinamou belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pale-browed tinamou to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pale-browed tinamou from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The pale-browed tinamou (Crypturellus transfasciatus) is a type of tinamou found in tropical dry forests in Peru and Ecuador.

Etymology Crypturellus is formed from three Latin or Greek words. Kruptos meaning covered or hidden, oura meaning tail, and ellus meaning diminutive. Therefore, Crypturellus means small hidden tail.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species. All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also ratites. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.

Description The pale-browed tinamou is approximately 28 cm (11 in) in length. It is recognized by its greyish-brown upper coat which is finely vermiculated with black, and a white throat, with the remainder of its underparts greyish to buffy. Its flanks are barred, and it has a very brown crown, and a prominent white supercilium. Its legs are pink.

Behavior

Like other tinamous, the pale-browed tinamou eats fruit off the ground or low-lying bushes, and small amounts of invertebrates, flower buds, tender leaves, seeds, and roots. The male incubates the eggs which may come from as many as 5 different females, and then will raise them until they are ready to be on their own. The nest is located on the ground in dense brush or between raised root buttresses.

Range and habitat The pale-browed tinamou is found in subtropical and tropical arid forests up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in altitude. This species is native to western Ecuador; southern Manabí, Guayas, coastal and extreme western El Oro, and extreme northwestern Loja, and northwestern Peru; Tumbes and western (except coastal) Piura. It inhabits the Ecuadorian dry forests and Tumbes–Piura dry forests ecoregions.

Conservation The IUCN classifies the pale-browed tinamou as Near Threatened, as their numbers are decreasing. It is currently threatened by widespread deforestation and habitat degradation caused by livestock overgrazing, and also logging. This species is also threatened by people hunting it for food. It also is suffering losses due to farming, however this is the least of the threats. The occurrence range of this species is 41,900 km2 (16,200 sq mi).

News and popular culture A video shared widely on social media in early February 2021, which claimed to have been recorded in the "Selva de Colombia" and purported to show National Liberation Army (ELN) support for the leftist candidate Andrés Arauz in the 2021 Ecuadorian elections, was exposed as a fake after analysis of the video's audio channels revealed the calls of a pale-browed tinamou, which does not occur in Colombia.

Footnotes

References BirdLife International (2008). "Pale-browed Tinamou - BirdLife Species Factsheet". Data Zone. Retrieved 9 Feb 2009. Brands, Sheila (Aug 14, 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Genus Crypturellus". Project: The Taxonomicon. Retrieved Feb 9, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) Clements, James (2007). The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World (6th ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-4501-9. Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Tinamous". In Hutchins, Michael (ed.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Vol. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 57–59. ISBN 0-7876-5784-0. Gotch, A. F. (1995) [1979]. "Tinamous". Latin Names Explained. A Guide to the Scientific Classifications of Reptiles, Birds & Mammals. New York, NY: Facts on File. p. 183. ISBN 0-8160-3377-3.

External links Picture; Article

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pale-browed tinamou

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pale-browed tinamou claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pale-browed tinamou before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pale-browed tinamou ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pale-browed tinamou

In research: Pale-browed tinamou appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pale-browed tinamou in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pale-browed tinamou is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1878, Birds of Tumbes, Crypturellus, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pale-browed tinamou outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pale-browed tinamou in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pale-browed tinamou means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pale-browed tinamou out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pale-browed tinamou in simple terms?

The pale-browed tinamou (Crypturellus transfasciatus) is a type of tinamou found in tropical dry forests in Peru and Ecuador. Etymology Crypturellus is formed from three Latin or Greek words.

Why does Pale-browed tinamou matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pale-browed tinamou?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pale-browed tinamou.