Name of the Animal

Note to Page Authors: You may customize this page by selecting backgrounds, fonts and font colors.
See WhoZoo Template Instructions for further information on using this template.
Fill in the information indicated in each category below.

If your image is very wide and short, put your image here, and delete the image from the space below.
Replace this image with an image of your animal. If your image is reduced to fit the space, then include a link to the full-sized image. If your image is too wide to put into this space, put it in the space above and delete the image from this space.	Scientific Name: Cochlearius Cochlearius
	Geographical Range: South and Central America
	Habitat: Wooded or mangrove fringes of freshwater creeks, lakes and marshes. It roosts in the day time in bushes or trees overhanging water.
	Diet in the Wild: Insects, shrimps, fish, amphibians, and small mammals.
	Conservation Status: Not protected.
	Location in the Zoo: By the By the yellow-billed stork.
Physical Description: Stocky, medium-sized (18-20 in) mostly black and white. Sometimes buff heron with a huge black bill. Head is black, with a crest of long black lanceolate plumes that are most extravagant during the mating season. The huge eyes bulge out from the face. The upper back is black, the rest of the back and upper wings are grapy. The under parts are a rich rufous.	Social Organization:: How the Boat-billed Heron communicates with other birds are quite different than the way in which the regular heron does. Most Boat-billed Herons communicate through sounds that it makes, both vocal and mechanical such as bill-pops that sound like human handclaps. This is different from the visual gesturing that regular herons do. Also, it feeds alone, flying from the communal roost to independent feeding areas. Occasionally it will feed in aggregations.
Special Adaptations: Their boat-like beak makes it possible to waddle through water and stab their prey with their beaks, or scoop of shrimp and other mud-dwelling prey.	Another image here.
Reproductive Behavior: Breeding timing is variable, generally in the rainy season. The heron nests solitarily or in small groups of a few to a dozen pairs, but also joins mixed heronries. The eggs are pale blue to green, often with spotting. Clutch size is usually three eggs, range one to four eggs. Incubation is 26 days. The young are at first fed entirely at night. The adult is aggressive in defending the young from all intruders, a behavior not typical of herons.	The Animal at the Zoo: History of the animals at the zoo, your personal observations of the animal.
Another image here	Page Author: Donna Cropp and ldcropp@sbcglobal.net Sources and Links: Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock, and Donna Olendorf, ed. Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia Second Edition. Vol 8. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2002. 258-259. Elbert Greer “The Boat-Billed Heron” URL: http://www.ambergriscaye.com/birds/boatbill.html Brad Hazelton, Fort Worth Zoo.

WhoZoo Home

WhoZoo Animal Index

PageAuthors: Select one of the following, and delete the others.

Mammals at the Fort Worth Zoo
Birds at the Fort Worth Zoo
Reptiles and Amphibians at the Fort Worth Zoo
Fish at the Fort Worth Zoo
Invertebrates at the Fort Worth Zoo