Choco Woodpecker vs Gray-shanked Douc Langur

Veniliornis chocoensis compared with Pygathrix cinerea

Key Differences

• Choco Woodpecker is Near Threatened while Gray-shanked Douc Langur is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Choco Woodpecker	Gray-shanked Douc Langur
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Piciformes (Piciformes)	Primates (Primates)
Family	Picidae	Cercopithecidae (Old World Monkeys)
Genus	Veniliornis	Pygathrix
Species	Veniliornis chocoensis	Pygathrix cinerea

Evolutionary Relationship

Choco Woodpecker and Gray-shanked Douc Langur share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

Choco Woodpecker

NT — Near Threatened

Gray-shanked Douc Langur

CR — Critically Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Choco Woodpecker	Gray-shanked Douc Langur
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Choco Woodpecker

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia and Ecuador. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Gray-shanked Douc Langur

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Choco Woodpecker

The Choco Woodpecker (Veniliornis chocoensis) is a small to medium-sized woodpecker in the family Picidae, endemic to the humid lowland and foothill forests of the Chocó biogeographic region on the Pacific slopes of Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. It belongs to the genus Veniliornis, a group of small Neotropical woodpeckers characterised by their compact build, relatively short bills, and often barred or spotted plumage combining greens, browns, and reds. The male Choco Woodpecker has a red cap, while the female's crown is dark. Both sexes show strongly barred underparts. It inhabits the interior and edge of humid tropical forest from sea level to around 1,200 metres, where it excavates nesting and roosting cavities in dead or dying trees and forages for wood-boring beetles, ants, and other invertebrates by pecking, chiselling, and probing bark and dead wood. The IUCN classifies the Choco Woodpecker as Near Threatened. Its dependence on intact and mature forest with sufficient dead wood substrate makes it vulnerable to the rapid, ongoing deforestation occurring in the Colombian and Ecuadorian Pacific lowlands and foothills, where large areas of forest have been converted to agriculture and human settlements over recent decades.