Choco Woodpecker vs Ontong Java Flying Fox

Veniliornis chocoensis compared with Pteropus howensis

Key Differences

• Choco Woodpecker is Near Threatened while Ontong Java Flying Fox is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Choco Woodpecker	Ontong Java Flying Fox
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Piciformes (Piciformes)	Chiroptera (Bats)
Family	Picidae	Pteropodidae (Fruit Bats)
Genus	Veniliornis	Pteropus (Flying Foxes)
Species	Veniliornis chocoensis	Pteropus howensis

Evolutionary Relationship

Choco Woodpecker and Ontong Java Flying Fox share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

Choco Woodpecker

NT — Near Threatened

Ontong Java Flying Fox

CR — Critically Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Choco Woodpecker	Ontong Java Flying Fox
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.

Ontong Java Flying Fox

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.