Great tinamou
Tinamus major (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
The great tinamou (Tinamus major) is a species in the family Tinamidae, order Tinamiformes. Recorded adults weigh 960 g to 1.1 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the great tinamou
- Weight
- 960 g – 1.1 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 17 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4 – 4.2src 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 great tinamou live?
Not recorded
What is the great tinamou?
The great tinamou (Tinamus major) is a species of tinamou ground bird native to Central and South America. There are several subspecies, mostly differentiated by their coloration.
From the Wikipedia article “Great tinamou” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_tinamou&oldid=1380340291), 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.
What does the great tinamou sound like?
Is the great tinamou endangered?
The great tinamou is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- 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 Least Concern species.
How is the great tinamou classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderTinamiformes
- familyTinamidae
- genusTinamus
- SpeciesTinamus major (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
Synonyms Tetrao major, Tinamus brasiliensis
Other names and names in other languages (37)
- تنام كبيرArabic
- tinamú olivaciCatalan
- tinama většíCzech
- tinamŵ mawr cyffredinWelsh
- Stor TinamuDanish
- GroßtinamuGerman
- GroßtaoGerman
- granda tinamoEsperanto
- Tinamú mayorSpanish
- Gallina de monteSpanish
- Perdiz GrandeSpanish
- tinamú grandeSpanish
- Tinamú oliváceoSpanish
- suurtinamuEstonian
- isotinamiFinnish
- Grand TinamouFrench
- maslinasti tinamuCroatian
- nagy tinamuHungarian
- Tinamo grossoItalian
- Tinamo giganteItalian
- オオシギダチョウJapanese
- didysis tinamasLithuanian
- Grote TinamoeDutch
- kusacz dużyPolish
- inambu-serraPortuguese
- Inhambu-de-cabeça-vermelhaPortuguese
- inhambu-serraPortuguese
- tinamu-grandePortuguese
- Большой тинамуRussian
- tinama veľkáSlovak
- Veliki tinamuSerbian
- anamúsrm
- större tinamoSwedish
- Büyük TinamuTurkish
- тинаму великийUkrainian
- 大䳍Chinese
- 大(共鳥)Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the great tinamou
Other species in the same genus Tinamus.
Solitary tinamou
Tinamus solitarius
White-throated tinamou
Tinamus guttatus
Grey tinamou
Tinamus tao
Black tinamou
Tinamus osgoodi
Slaty-masked tinamou
Tinamus resonans
CompareGreat tinamou vs Solitary tinamouGreat tinamou vs White-throated tinamouGreat tinamou vs Grey tinamouGreat tinamou vs Black tinamou
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the great tinamou?
An adult great tinamou weighs 960 g – 1.1 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the great tinamou endangered?
The great tinamou 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 great tinamou?
The great tinamou (Tinamus major) belongs to the family Tinamidae in the order Tinamiformes.
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). Great tinamou (Tinamus major). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-tinamou
“Great tinamou (Tinamus major).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-tinamou.
@misc{great_tinamou_2026,
title = {Great tinamou (Tinamus major)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-tinamou},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}