Araripe Manakin

The Araripe Manakin is a passeriforme bird of the Pipridae family. The specific name bokermanni is in homage to the Brazilian zoologist Werner Bokermann. It was discovered in 1996 in the Chapada do Araripe in the northeast of Brazil. According to its discoverers, the Araripe Manakin is only found in the municipalities of Barbalha, Crato and Missão Velha, all of these in the state of Ceará.

An NGO in Ceará, Aquasis (www.aquasis.org.br) has been working on its conservation since 2003, and a Conservation Plan was developed to prevent the extinction of the species. In the absence of a common Brazilian name, it was called soldadinho-do-araripe (Coelho e Silva 1998) since it is in the same genus as the other soldadinho, the Helmeted Manakin. However, different colloquial names were later discovered such as galo-da-mata, língua-de-tamanduá, lavadeira-da-mata, uirapuru-matreiro e cabeça-vermelha-da-mata, and this lack of consensus suggests that the bird was relatively unknown to the regions inhabitants.

The Araripe Manakin is the only bird that is exclusively endemic to the state of Ceará (pers. com. Weber Girão and Ciro Albano), being considered one of the five species of the fauna of Ceará most at risk of extinction in the official list of 2003 (MMA/Ibama), where it is classified as “Critically Endangered”, and it is given the same status by the IUCN (BirdLife International 2004) in its list of birds at risk of total extinction.

The Araripe Manakin is a bird about 15 cm in length and 20 grams in weight, showing marked sexual diphormism, since the female is olive-green while the male is white with black tail and flight feathers and with a crimson mantle extending down the back and into an impressive crest over the bill, a feature practically absent in the female.

Juveniles of both sexes look like the female but, as the males mature, crimson feathers appear on the head gradually increasing in density until, at the end of this process, the black flight feathers replace the juvenile ones and the white plumage ends up entirely replacing the olive-green.

The crests increase in length as the males develop and can extend up to 4 millimetres beyond the end of the bill. Occasionally a female will show crimson feathers on its back. Males have flight feathers a little larger than females and are slightly longer and heavier. The iris and legs are grey while the soles of the feet are yellowish.

soldadinho-do-araripe macho

soldadinho-do-araripe fêmea

soldadinho-do-araripe jovem

The diet of the Araripe Manakin, as with other members of the family, consists mainly of small fruits although it also preys on arthropods including insects on the wing. This aspect of its diet, still to be properly assessed, could help the birds to survive in times when fruit is scarce.

soldadinho-do-araripe se alimentando

The elaborate courtship of the manakins ensures that the males with the most conspicuous plumage and the greatest agility in the courtship dance are selected by the females. The Araripe Manakin has a plumage as exuberant as any manakin but his display consists of vigorous pursuits of any intruder into his territory. This ritual highlights his capacity to defend the territory which provides food for the female and their youngsters.

Nest construction is carried out by the female. The highly coloured male would attract predators to the nest. The nest site is always over running water, generally at a height of below 2 m. The construction takes less than four days with strands of dry vegetation and fungi fixed to a fork in the tree with spiders' webs forming a cup decorated with hanging leaves. The majority of the plants on which nests have been observed have fruits which are consumed by the Araripe Manakin with the exception of some large ferns which are used only by inexperienced females or where there is no adequate alternative (e.g. steep slopes). The development of eggs in some bird species is dependant on a narrow range of atmospheric humidity and suggests that the laying of eggs above water by this species may indicate a degree of dependance on this restricted micro-climate.

The female always lays two eggs with an interval of about a day between them. The eggs are beige with dark streaks which become denser nearer the base but are almost absent from the base itself forming what looks like a monk's tonsure. Three weeks after laying, the eggs hatch with an interval of about a day between them. After a further three weeks the fledglings leave the nest attended by the mother and watched by the father.

At about two years of age a male will acquire full adult plumage and will be driven out of its parents' territory and the same will happen to a fully adult female offspring.

Casal de soldadinho-do-araripe

Ninho de soldadinho-do-araripe

Ovo de soldadinho-do-araripe

Territorial, they don't form flocks but protect the female and offspring within their delimited territory.

The Araripe Manakin is found only in the municipalities of Barbalha, Crato e Missão Velha, all in the state of Ceará. In 2000, the population was estimated at less than 50 individuals since only three males and one female had been found by that date. In 2003 the stimates were more optimistic increasing to 250 individuals. In 2004 this estimate was maintained.

  Ocorrências registradas no WikiAves

• (in Portuguese) AQUASIS - Plano de Conservação do Soldadinho-do-araripe. Conservation Plan for the Araripe Manakin. Available at: www.aquasis.org. Accessed on 5 February 2009.
• (in Portuguese) O ECO - Pássaro cearense, padrinho de ouro. 2008 Available at: O ECO. Accessed on 02 February 2008
• (in English) BirdLife International (2004). Antilophia bokermanni. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Accessed on 3 November 2007.