So far (2015) very few birds have had their total genome analysed. More recently, a start was made to sequence the entire genome of the hoatzin. As of 2011, it was reported that more than 1.4 billion base pairs of hoatzin DNA had been sequenced, roughly equal to its entire haploid genome, but that only about 2.4% of its genome had yet been assembled. Of birds, the genomes of only four species have been sequenced. Much might be learned by coordinating these efforts with analysing the hoatzin foregut ruminant bacterial microflora. At present, the nearest relatives of the hoatzin are not known. There is a fossil record which suggests its lineage is fairly ancient.