📸 PhotoPhoto: Joseph C Boone · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Resplendent Quetzal
Pharomachrus mocinno (Resplendent Quetzal · ケツァール)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 In Guatemala and Costa Rica, it is an important bird for tourism (ADW).
- 💡 The male's tail streamers of up to about 90 cm are about the length of an umbrella (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Resplendent Quetzal is a striking bird with a metallic green body and extremely long tail streamers in males, living high in the trees of cool, humid montane rainforests.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body length from bill to tail base is about 35 cm, and the male's tail streamers extend up to about 90 cm further. Males have a metallic green head and back, a crimson breast and belly, and a bristly crest on the head, and like other trogons, two toes point backward.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds mainly on avocado-like fruits of the laurel family and disperses their seeds, and when fruit is scarce it also catches insects, small frogs, and lizards. It nests in rotten tree stumps or old woodpecker holes.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List category NT — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 22682727
- • wikidata.org — Q459267
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Resplendent Quetzal female.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Pharomachrus mocinno
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Jamie Whitehouse · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.