These birds are perhaps the strangest birds on the face of the planet. No joke.
The first record of these birds comes to us from the Spanish explorer Francisco Hernández who describes their morphology and also writes:
The bones of this bird relieve the pain of wounds in any part of the human body; the odor of the plumage restores hope to those who, from any disease, are steadily wasting away. The ashes of the feathers when devoured relieve the Gallic sickness, acting in a wonderful manner...Yeah. That's right. They smell like hope. Pure, smelly hope.
But that's not even the best part.
The Hoatzin is actually a foliovore (eats leaves) and has a semi-ruminant stomach (like a cow!).
But wait! There's MORE!
Baby Hoatzins have fingers! That's right. They have two claws on their wings that they use to swim and climb to avoid predators in the trees.
This unique ability prompted many scientists to suggest that the Hoatzin is a "link" between birds and reptiles.
Even today, the Hoatzin's place in the evolutionary bird tree is widely disputed and DNA analysis has only made the situation worse!
Such a cool critter!
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