Any of numerous tropical American bird species (family Cracidae); strictly defined, one of 7–12 species in which the male is glossy black and has a curled crest of feathers and a brightly coloured bill ornament.
The smaller female is brownish and unornamented. Curassows have delicious flesh and are hunted as game. Large species (measuring up to nearly 40 in. [100 cm] long) include the great curassow ( Crax rubra ), found from Mexico to Ecuador; the helmeted curassow ( Pauxi pauxi ), of the Venezuelan and Colombian mountains; and the critically endangered razor-billed curassow ( C. mitu ), of the Amazon.
Southern helmeted curassow ( Crax unicornis )
Albert E. Gilbert