I'll be the first to admit that some birds' name make me blush-- and this bird no exception. In choosing my birds for "Cool and Unusual2", it was hard not to include this unusual South American bird. The Cock-of-the-Rock on the rock is Rupicola peruviana from the Andes range from Venezuela south to Bolivia while it's oranger cousin, Rupicola rupicola, is from Guiana range and adjacent areas of Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia. Both species depicted are males-- the females are dull brown. Besides being a cool looking bird, the Cock-of-the-Rock is an important link to the health of the jungle forests. When the Cock-of-the-Rock eats fruit, it swallows many of the seeds whole and most of these are not damaged when they pass through its digestive system. Thus, many seeds remain capable of germinating when the Cock-of-the-Rock defecates or regurgitates them at considerable distances from the parent trees. In this way, the Cock-of-the-Rock plays an important role in dispersing seeds of many different species of forest trees. Rendered in Poser7. Models: Songbird ReMix, RDNA's jungle plants & rocks and DAZ's Cyclorama.