Cauca guan
Penelope perspicax Bangs, 1911
The cauca guan (Penelope perspicax) is a species in the family Cracidae, order Galliformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.2 kg to 2.06 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.
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Quick facts about the cauca guan
- Weight
- 1.2 kg – 2.06 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Frugivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 26 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.25src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the cauca guan live?
Not recorded
What is the cauca guan?
The Cauca guan (Penelope perspicax) is a bird in the chachalaca, guan and curassow family, Cracidae. It is a large guan, and like most guans leads a mostly arboreal life in humid forests, where it forages for fruit and leaves. The Cauca guan is endemic to Colombia's Cauca River valley.
In Spanish the bird is called pava caucana.
From the Wikipedia article “Cauca guan” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cauca_guan&oldid=1355294680), 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 cauca guan endangered?
The cauca guan is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.
How is the cauca guan classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderGalliformes
- familyCracidae
- genusPenelope
- SpeciesPenelope perspicax Bangs, 1911
Synonyms Penelope perpicax, Penelope purpurascens perspicax
Other names and names in other languages (32)
- غوان كاوكاArabic
- Guan de CaucaCatalan
- guan del CaucaCatalan
- guan caucskýCzech
- guan kolumbijskýCzech
- gwân CaucaWelsh
- Cauca PenelopehøneDanish
- Cauca-GuanGerman
- kaŭka penelopoEsperanto
- Pava caucanaSpanish
- Pava del CaucaSpanish
- cauca lotthokoEstonian
- kolumbiansakuFinnish
- Pénélope de CaucaFrench
- Pénélope du CaucaFrench
- Kauka-guánHungarian
- Guan di CaucaItalian
- アカシャクケイJapanese
- kolumbinė penelopėLithuanian
- CaucasjakohoenDutch
- Cauca-sjakohoenDutch
- caucahokkoNorwegian
- penelopa kasztanowataPolish
- jacu-do-caucaPortuguese
- guano-do-caucaPortuguese
- Колумбийская пенелопаRussian
- šuan gaštanovýSlovak
- Kaukanski guanSerbian
- Kauka GuanıTurkish
- пенелопа колумбійськаUkrainian
- 考加冠雉Chinese
- 考卡冠雉Chinese
Relatives of the cauca guan
Other species in the same genus Penelope.
White-winged guan
Penelope albipennis
Spix's guan
Penelope jacquacu
Crested guan
Penelope purpurascens
Andean guan
Penelope montagnii
Red-faced guan
Penelope dabbenei
Band-tailed guan
Penelope argyrotis
CompareCauca guan vs White-winged guanCauca guan vs Spix's guanCauca guan vs Crested guanCauca guan vs Andean guan
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the cauca guan?
An adult cauca guan weighs 1.2 kg – 2.06 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the cauca guan endangered?
The cauca guan is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the cauca guan?
The cauca guan (Penelope perspicax) 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.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Cauca guan (Penelope perspicax). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cauca-guan
“Cauca guan (Penelope perspicax).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cauca-guan.
@misc{cauca_guan_2026,
title = {Cauca guan (Penelope perspicax)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cauca-guan},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}