• Question: what is the closest bird to a quetzal?

    Asked by spongebob to Hannah, Anthony on 12 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Hannah Grist

      Hannah Grist answered on 12 Mar 2017:

      Oo, I love bird questions! Have you seen a quetzal?

      They are colourful birds that belong in a family called the trogons. There are 39 species in the family, but people aren’t sure what they are closely related to- some people think they are like parrots or owls, but they are pretty unique.

    • Photo: Anthony Caravaggi

      Anthony Caravaggi answered on 15 Mar 2017:

      I don’t have much to add to Hannah’s excellent answer, other than to say that some of the most recent research point to mousebirds being the closest relatives of quetzals.

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