The Hoatzin, the national bird of Guyana, is an unusual species of tropical bird found in swamps, riverine forest and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco delta in South America. The scientific classification of this family of birds has been greatly debated, and is still far from clear.
Hoatzins (Opisthocomus hoazin) on Lake Sandoval, Peru by Laura Carrie (CC)
It is a roughly pheasant-sized bird, with a long neck and small head. It is brown in color, with paler underparts and has an un-feathered blue face with maroon eyes, and its head is topped by a spiky, rufous crest. It is called Stinkbird, the name is related to a strong smell the bird produces, perhaps due to the consumption of leaves. Even though these birds are very attractive and are not great fliers, they are not considered endangered, its survival seems to be more assured than that of many other birds in its geographic location, this is mostly due to this strong smell and reported bad taste.
Opisthocomus Hoatzin by Vince Smith (CC)
What’s so special about the Hoatzin?
Young Hoatzin birds has claws on their wings allowing them to climb trees like a monkey. It also becomes an expert underwater swimmer before it even learns to fly. The most puzzling characteristic is that 95% of the birds diet is leaves, it is the only bird known to digest leaves and food in the same way as cows and other ruminants, it uses bacteria to break down the food it eats in a special chamber just above it’s stomach. The Hoatzin is arguably the most mysterious and perplexing living bird in regard to its evolutionary relatedness among various groups of organisms. No satisfying evolutionary hypothesis has been proposed, and the situation has actually become worse with the availability of DNA sequence data.
Scientist that have studied the Hoatzin for decades says the bird don’t seem to follow the rule of evolution, even though they are very creative about coming up with evolutionary explanations for other creatures, they were never able to come up with an evolutionary explanation for the Hoatzin’s peculiar digestive arrangement. But as Christians we can rejoice at one more of God’s awesome ability to create distinct species that defies any explanation that man would try to invent to deny that He is the Creator of this world.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ~ Romans 1:20-22
10 thoughts on “Creation Tidbits – The Hoatzin Bird”
Um hello? Claws on the wings! What more proof do you want that this bird evolved from a raptor-like species of dinosaur! Nothing says left-over evolutionary trait like a FINGER on the wing. Archaeopteryx look-alike much? Things like that along with our now useless appendix and tailbone all point in an evolutionary direction. I have faith in god, but not the creation myth. Use your god-given brains people, you evolved them for a reason- to “reason”.
Claws on a wing does not prove anything, bats have claws on their wings and they are not an evolving species, in fact no animal has evolved or is evolving, they have all these traits for a reason.
Things like that along with our now useless appendix and tailbone all point in an evolutionary direction.”
When evolutionist cannot explain something they call it useless, when in fact it is not, evolutionist are now calling the DNA sequences they cannot explain “Junk DNA”, when in fact those DNA are extremely useful in regulating protein formation and other processes in all living things, this study is still in progress.
The tail bone is extremely useful!! In fact, victims of Coccygectomy (tail bone removal) in the past have had as a consequence difficulty sitting down and standing up, difficulty giving birth, and difficulty getting to the toilet in time. If you think it is so useless, please have it removed..I would not remove it, I won’t die if it is removed, but I don’t think I want to have problems sitting, standing or getting to the toilet!! I’m just saying! 🙂
You have faith in “god” what god? You need to have faith in the God of the Bible, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the sustainer of life and everything that we see and cannot see. If you believe that Creation is a myth, then you are grossly contradicting yourself! You may as well take your Bible burn it or throw it away like any other book.
You did not evolve a brain, you were created with a brain, so that you can reason and think and understand the truths of God. You were created with so much worth, that you are actually worth more than this world to God, He actually came to die for you, not the earth, plants, animals, stars or moon, but you, believe it or not my friend.
If you cannot believe that God Created the heavens and the earth, neither can you believe in His resurrection from the dead, because that also is an impossibility in the mind of man!
The coccyx, also known as the tailbone is very important. It is described as a remnant of a vestigial tail (in humans the vestigial tail, is present for a period of 4 weeks, during stages 14 to 22 of human embryogenesis.) Why would we evolve to not have tails after 31–35 days old in the womb, when it could actually be of use when climbing trees – which we still do today? We reside on land ever since the garden of eden – our arms and feet are strong enough to get us to the important branches or even to he top of fruit bearing trees.
Importance of the coccyx: it is an important attachment for various muscles, tendons and ligaments — which makes it necessary for physicians and patients to pay special attention to these attachments when considering surgical removal of the coccyx. Additionally, it is also part of the weight-bearing tripod structure which act as a support for a sitting person. When a person sits leaning forward, the ischial tuberosities and inferior rami of the ischium take most of the weight, but as the sitting person leans backward, more weight is transferred to the coccyx.
The anterior side of the coccyx serves for the attachment of a group of muscles important for many functions of the pelvic floor. Through the anococcygeal raphé, the coccyx supports the position of the anus. Attached to the posterior side is gluteus maximus which extend the thigh during ambulation. Many important ligaments attach to the coccyx. And, lastly, some fibers of the sacrospinous and sacrotuberous ligaments (arising from the spine of the ischium and the ischial tuberosity respectively) also attach to the coccyx.
A bad coccyx info: Most anatomy books wrongly state that the coccyx is normally fused in adults. In fact it has been shown that the coccyx may consist of up to five separate bony segments, the most common configuration being two or three segments.
Even though the coccyx is so small and in such a remote part of the body – it plays an important part in our well being.
God as made it clear that every part of our bodies are important. everyone having it’s purpose and honor – the small and the great. Paul, wrote to the church in Corinth using the body as an analogy for the church. We can learn a great truth about the physical body from his words below, and know this, Paul was a doctor.
1 Corinthians 12:20-25
New King James Version (NKJV)
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of youâ€; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.†22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
WOW! that is beautiful, thanks for sharing, Powerful stuff!! Just to add a note,… if we lost a tail, we can’t consider that “evolution”, we would actually be digressing because the tail is extremely important to animals that have and use them, extremely! extremely! important for balance, climbing and for some animals a means of defense. If we use real scientific study of the world we can see that we did not evolve to be what we are, we were created with all our working parts intact and God said…..IT IS GOOD!
AAAAAH! The Stink Bird strikes again!! LOL love the colors, reminds me of a game bird! thank God for His beautiful creation.
Oh God, You are such a riot! We love you so much. What an awesome bird! Priceless. This made my day.
He sure is a riot, with a GREAT sense of humor! LOL..what a great God we serve! Amen!
Thats a beautiful and unique bird. Thanks for sharing.
Cool, thanks for the encouragement and affirmation of my faith. Add him to the list along with the platypus, coelacanth, and human eye.
Happy it was a blessing to you, it’s been great reading about the unique characters of different animals, really strengthens my faith, a great little book called “The Creation Book” by Dr. Jobe Martin opened my eyes to this aspect of studying creation 🙂