What did people do to the quetzal to make it endangered?

LEVEL: Intermediate, Secondary

A good way to start this topic is a search for background information using a general encyclopedia like Wikipedia.  Simply use your keyword Quetzal in the search box at the top of the right of the screen.

HOT TIP: Wikipedia has great coverage of many topics, but you need to be aware that this information is contributed by lots of different people. If you are using this site, it always pays to check the information against that on other sites or in books from the library.

The Quetzal article says that:  “None of the Quetzal species are under immediate threat in the wild, although the Resplendent Quetzal is at Near Threatened status”, which definitely needs checking!  Click on the Near Threatened link to get a table of different conservation statuses used by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).

We found the best explanation of all these different terms by going to Google and typing in iucn status definition. One of the results which appeared is the official IUCN website which has a list and description of the different statuses.  This information is reliable as the .org in the address tells us it is the official website for the IUCN.

Now that we have a better idea of the meaning of endangered and threatened species, let’s see how people have treated the Resplendent Quetzal, which seems to be the most threatened type of quetzal.

Start with Google by typing Resplendent Quetzal into the search box.  Check each site to see if it contains information on human treatment and conservation status of the birds.  It is a good idea to check the first two pages of Google results as the best websites don’t always appear in the first 10 results.   Neotropical Birds at Cornell University has a very detailed answer - when you are looking at this site it helps to use the index panel to the left of the main picture.  Arkive is another good site on the Google list – you should use the handy tabs above the main text box, especially those for Facts, Status, Threats, and Conservation.

There is also some useful information at the IUCN website we visited earlier. Simply type Quetzal into the search box and it will bring up the scientific names of the different species.   Clicking on the different name will reveal information about each species, including threats.