Have you ever heard of the smelly bird that has claws on its wings? Yes, such an animal does exist—and it’s called the hoatzin. This bird is known for its rotten scent, thanks to its ...

However, the hoatzin's unusual smell acts as a natural defence mechanism, as predators tend to avoid the bird because they think it is rotten or poisonous.

The expression “strange bird” certainly applies to the Hoatzin (pronounced “watt-seen”), a bird of the Amazon and Orinoco River basins whose every characteristic could be described as ...

Ben Crair on the hoatzin, the bird that is seemingly defying the concept behind the tree of life; B10K, a research group that is trying to sequence the genome of every species of bird; and DNA ...

Why it's awesome: The hoatzin is often regarded as one of the world's strangest birds. Hatchlings are born with clawed wings — a rare, prehistoric trait — and adults give off a strong ...