Say hello to an utterly ridiculous creature which has quickly become my new favourite bird.

First up, there’s the name…

This is a Horned Screamer, which is quite possibly the kinkiest bird name I’ve come across – although it obviously has close competition from the Andean Cock of the Rock, the Rough-Faced Shag, the Blue-Footed Booby, and the Great Tit (yep, those are all real birds that exist).

Then we get into the Horned Screamer’s freaky anatomy – namely, that they are basically flying unicorns.

They’re the only bird in the world to have an actual horn protruding from their heads. Well, ‘actual’ horn is up for debate, as horns aren’t particularly well-defined. The technical definition says that a horn must have a core made of bone (like you’ll find in cattle, goats or antelope) – but the animal kingdom contains a wide range of strange ‘horn-like structures’ that are commonly referred to as horns.

For the purpose of this discussion, if you agree that a rhinoceros has a horn, then you must also conclude that the Horned Screamer has a horn, as they both have pointy structures growing out of their heads that are entirely made of keratin – a fascinating substance that is the basis of hair, feathers, nails, scales, claws, hooves and shells.

The purpose of the Horned Screamer’s horn isn’t particularly well-understood. It’s not used for defence, as the horns are brittle and snap off easily, and these birds have sharp spurs on their wings which they use for battle. It’s possible that the horns are used to attract a mate, but in the avian world it’s unusual for males and females to both have such prominent features. Other theories are that the horns are used as a quick way to identify members of the same species, or that the horns are simply ‘ornamental’. However, evolution doesn’t tend to waste energy creating weird, spiky appendages for no reason – so it’s more likely that we just don’t have the full picture yet… Who knows, maybe they get really good Wi-Fi?

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Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta), Manu Biological Station, Peru