greater ani

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description and an illustration of the greater ani in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. He used the French name Le grand Bout-de-Petun and the Latin name Crotophagus Major.{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés | volume=4 | language=French, Latin | pages=180–182, Plate 18 fig 2 | location=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36195295 }} The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.{{cite journal |last=Allen | first=J.A. | author-link=Joel Asaph Allen | year=1910 | title=Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=28 | pages=317–335 | hdl=2246/678 | url=https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/678}} The greater ani was also described and illustrated in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1779 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=6 | location=Paris | publisher=De l'Imprimerie Royale | pages=423–429, Plate 19 | chapter=L'Ani des Palétuviers | language=French | chapter-url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1069718q/f487.item }}{{ cite book | last1=Buffon | first1=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author1-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | last2=Martinet | first2=François-Nicolas | author2-link=François-Nicolas Martinet | last3=Daubenton | first3=Edme-Louis | author3-link=Edme-Louis Daubenton | last4=Daubenton | first4=Louis-Jean-Marie | author4-link=Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton | year=1765–1783 | chapter=Le grand Bout-de Petun | title=Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle | volume=2 | location=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | at=Plate 102, fig. 1 | chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35203115 }}

When in 1788 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, he included the greater ani. He placed it with the smooth-billed ani in the genus Crotophaga, coined the binomial name Crotophaga major and cited the earlier authors. Gmelin specified the type locality as Cayenne.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1788 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=363 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2896963 }} The genus name combines the Ancient Greek krotōn meaning "tick" with -phagos meaning "-eating".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=123 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n123/mode/1up }} The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2022 | title=Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/turacos/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=12 August 2022}}

The greater ani is about {{cvt|46|cm}} in length. Males weigh around {{cvt|162|g}}, females {{cvt|145|g}}. The adult is mainly blue-glossed black, with a long tail, massive ridged black bill, and a white iris. Immature birds have a brown iris.{{ cite book | last=Payne | first=R.B. | year=1997 | chapter=Greater ani | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World | volume=4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos | location=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=978-84-87334-22-1 | page=602 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0004unse/page/602/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }}

The calls include croaking and turkey-like gobbling kro-koro.

This ani is a breeding species from Panama and Trinidad through tropical South America to northern Argentina. It is found in mangrove swamps, semi-open woodland near water, and the edges of forests. It is a seasonal migrant in at least some parts of its range.

This is a very gregarious species, always found in noisy groups.

The greater ani feeds on large insects (such as beetles, grasshoppers and caterpillars){{cite web|website=The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago|title=Crotophaga major (Greater Ani)|publisher=UWI |url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Crotophaga_major%20-%20Greater%20Ani.pdf}} and even spiders, lizards, frogs, fruits, berries and Euphorbia seeds.

Image: Greater_Ani.png

The nest, built and lived in communally by two to five pairs, is a deep cup lined with leaves and placed usually {{cvt|2|-|5|m|ft}} high in a tree.{{Cite journal|last1=Riehl|first1=Christina|last2=Jara|first2=Laura | date=2009 | title=Natural history and reproductive biology of the communally breeding Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) at Gatún Lake, Panama | url=|journal=The Wilson Journal of Ornithology|volume=121|issue=4|pages=679–687|doi=10.1676/09-017.1 |s2cid=9437145 }} A number of females lay their chalky deep blue eggs in the nest and then share incubation and feeding. These breeding groups may also include non-breeding helpers.{{Cite journal|last1=Riehl Christina|last2=Strong Meghan J.|date=2018|title=Stable social relationships between unrelated females increase individual fitness in a cooperative bird |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=285|issue=1876|pages=20180130|doi=10.1098/rspb.2018.0130 |pmid=29643212 |pmc=5904317 | doi-access=free }} Nests have been found containing 3–10 eggs, with an incubation time of 11–12 days, with nestlings free to leave the nest after five days. They will be fed for several weeks if they choose not to leave.

In a longterm study, it was found that around 15% of females lay their eggs in the nest of another nesting group. This conspecific brood parasitism happens primarily when a female has lost her own clutch to predation.{{Cite journal|last1=Meghan J. Strong|last2=Riehl|first2=Christina|date=2019|title=Social parasitism as an alternative reproductive tactic in a cooperatively breeding cuckoo|journal=Nature|volume=567|issue=7746|pages=96–99|doi=10.1038/s41586-019-0981-1|pmid=30814729 |bibcode=2019Natur.567...96R |s2cid=256768072 }} In regards to the nesting group, the first couple eggs will be rejected by other nest members when the mother of those specific egg leaves to forage. Egg rejection happens more often with larger groups, and one theory claims there is a balance within having more ani's to defend the nest from predation, and less ani's to minimize intraspecific competition. This leads to an average of two to three breeding pairs in one nest, with any greater amount being rare.

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Crotophaga major}}

{{Wikispecies|Crotophaga major}}

• {{ITIS |id=554791 |taxon=Crotophaga major }}
• [http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/ani Ani defined] at [http://www.merriam-webster.com/ Merriam Webster Online]
• {{BirdLife|22684431|Crotophaga major}}
• {{InternetBirdCollection|greater-ani-crotophaga-major}}
• {{VIREO|Greater+Ani|Greater Ani}}
• {{NeotropicalBirds|greani1|Greater Ani}}
• {{Avibase|name=Crotophaga major}}
• {{IUCN_Map|22684431/163883583|Crotophaga major}}
• {{Xeno-canto species|Crotophaga|major|Greater Ani}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q730129}}

Category:Crotophaga

Category:Birds of South America

Category:Birds of the Caribbean

Category:Birds of Trinidad and Tobago

Category:Birds described in 1788

Category:Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin