The chachalacas, guans, and curassows are birds in the family Cracidae. These are species of tropical and subtropical Central and South America. The range of one species, the plain chachalaca, just reaches southernmost parts of Texas in the United States.

…American birds of the family Cracidae (order Galliformes). Strictly, it refers to 7–12 species in which the male is glossy black (often with a white belly) and has a curled crest of feathers and a brightly coloured bill ornament; the female, lacking the ornament, is smaller and brownish.

Cracids are large, blunt-winged birds with long, broad tails. Many species have or­na­ments (crests or casques) on the head or bill. Cracids are mostly for­est dwelling ar­bo­real birds. Un­like many …

Cracids are a primitive, ancestral family of gamebirds (Galliformes), probably originating in Central America and southern North America. The earliest known cracid is recognized by a fossil approximately 50 million years old, found in Wyoming.

Browse North American birds in taxonomic order—by order and family, with quick access to each bird’s photos and sounds.

The guans are a number of bird genera which make up the largest group in the family Cracidae. They are found mainly in northern South America, southern Central America, and a few adjacent Caribbean islands.

The horned curassow (Pauxi unicornis), or southern helmeted curassow, is a species of bird in the family Cracidae found in humid tropical and subtropical forests.

Cracids are more threatened than any other bird family in the Americas. Twenty-three of the fifty species are threatened with extinction, or close to being threatened with extinction, including 64 percent of curassows (nine species) and 16 percent of the chachalacas (two species).

The family Cracidae is made up of 50 species of guans, curassows and chachalacas - large gregarious game birds, many of which have striking colours. They are important as seed dispersers, biological indicators of the environment, a major protein source for indigenous people, and for ecotourism.

Cracids are a primitive family of Neotropical Galliformes. They are mainly frugivorous birds that inhabit primary forests, and may play an important role in regenerating and structuring forests through the dispersion and predation of seeds (Peres and Roosmalen 1996; Sedaghatkish 1996; Muñoz and Kattan 2007).