CreatureData

Black curassow

Crax alector Linnaeus, 1766

LCLeast Concernbirds

The black curassow (Crax alector) is a species in the family Cracidae, order Galliformes. Recorded adults weigh 2.87 kg to 3.3 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Black curassow (Crax alector)
Photo: scaup · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the black curassow

Weight
2.87 kg – 3.3 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Frugivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the black curassow live?

Not recorded

What is the black curassow?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The black curassow (Crax alector), also known as the smooth-billed curassow and the crested curassow, is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, and curassows. It is found in humid forests in northern South America in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas including Suriname, and far northern Brazil, and is introduced to Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Lesser Antilles. It is the only Crax curassow where the male and female cannot be separated by plumage, as both are essentially black with a white crissum (the area around the cloaca), and have a yellow (eastern part of its range) or orange-red (western part of its range) cere.

From the Wikipedia article “Black curassow” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_curassow&oldid=1351565590), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the black curassow endangered?

The black curassow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the black curassow classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderGalliformes
  5. familyCracidae
  6. genusCrax
  7. SpeciesCrax alector Linnaeus, 1766

Synonyms Crax nigra

Other names and names in other languages (36)
  • قراز أسودArabic
  • Черен краксBulgarian
  • hoco becllargCatalan
  • hoko černýCzech
  • hoko pospolitýCzech
  • cwrasow duWelsh
  • KamhokkoDanish
  • GlattschnabelhokkoGerman
  • nigra kraksoEsperanto
  • Blankapuga mutuoEsperanto
  • Pavón guayanésSpanish
  • guajaana hokoEstonian
  • isohokkoFinnish
  • Hocco alectorFrench
  • fekete hokkóHungarian
  • SkúfhúkurIcelandic
  • Hocco neroItalian
  • メスグロホウカンチョウJapanese
  • juodasis kraksasLithuanian
  • Atseentélí diłhiłígííNavajo
  • Zwarte HokkoDutch
  • trollhokkoNorwegian
  • czubacz kędzierzawyPolish
  • MutumporangaPortuguese
  • mutum-porangaPortuguese
  • mutum-venezuelanoPortuguese
  • Чёрный краксRussian
  • Хохлатый гоккоRussian
  • Хохлатый краксRussian
  • hoko čiernySlovak
  • Crni hokoSerbian
  • svarthockoSwedish
  • Sarı Gagalı HokkoTurkish
  • кракс тонкодзьобийUkrainian
  • 黑凤冠雉Chinese
  • 黑鳳冠雉Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the black curassow

Other species in the same genus Crax.

CompareBlack curassow vs Blue-billed curassowBlack curassow vs Great curassowBlack curassow vs Bare-faced curassowBlack curassow vs Red-billed curassow

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the black curassow?

An adult black curassow weighs 2.87 kg – 3.3 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the black curassow endangered?

The black curassow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the black curassow?

The black curassow (Crax alector) belongs to the family Cracidae in the order Galliformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Black curassow (Crax alector). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-curassow

MLA

“Black curassow (Crax alector).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-curassow.

BibTeX
@misc{black_curassow_2026,
  title = {Black curassow (Crax alector)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-curassow},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}