Purple-crested Turaco

The purple-crested turaco (Gallirex porphyreolophus) or, in South Africa, the purple-crested loerie, is a species of bird in the clade Turaco. This bird has a purple coloured crest above a green head, a red ring around their eyes, and a black bill. The neck and chest are green and brown. The rest of the body is purple, with red flight feathers. Purple-crested turacos are considered to be large frugivores that are known to carry cycad seeds from various plant species long distances from feeding to nesting sites. After fruit consumption, they regurgitate the seeds intact where they can germinate nearby. G. porphyreolophus primarily consumes fruits whole like many other large frugivores which are suggested to be necessary for effective ecosystem functioning. Among similar turacos, the purple-crested turaco have faster minimum transit times when consuming smaller seed diets than larger seed diets, and G. porphyreolophus has been shown to have significantly faster pulp (seedless fruit masses) transit time than another closely related Turaco when fed only the pulp of larger-seeding fruits than smaller-seeding fruits.