Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus) - BirdLife species factsheet

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Blue Crane Anthropoides paradiseus

IUCN Red List Criteria

Critically Endangered
Endangered
Vulnerable	A2acde

IUCN Red List history

Year	Category
2012	Vulnerable
2008	Vulnerable
2006	Vulnerable
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Vulnerable
1994	Vulnerable
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	Does not normally occur in forest
Land mass type	continent	Average mass	-

Distribution

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km²)	887,000	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Fragmentation		-

Population & trend

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
No. of mature individuals		medium	Estimated	2007
Population trend	Stable	medium		-
Number of subpopulations	2-100	-	-	-
Largest subpopulation	12000	-	-	-
Generation length (yrs)	13	-	-	-
Population justification: The population has been estimated at over 25,580 individuals, with a minimum of 25,520 in South Africa.
Trend justification: In South Africa, numbers in the south and south-western Western Cape have increased as the species has expanded into agricultural areas, although the national population has fallen by half since the 1970s (Archibald and Meine 1996, Barnes 2000). Evidence suggests that populations in Namibia (R. Simmons in litt. 2007) and the central Karoo region of South Africa (McCann et al. 2007) are stable. The overall population is presumed to have declined by 30-49% over the last 39 years (three generations) until further evidence to support on-going stability and increases in local populations is obtained.

Country/Territory distribution

Country/Territory	Occurrence status	Extinct	Non-breeding
Botswana	Vagrant	No	Yes
Lesotho	Vagrant	No	Yes
Namibia	Native	No
South Africa	Native	No
Swaziland	Vagrant	No
Zimbabwe	Vagrant	No	Yes

Important Bird Areas where this species has triggered the IBA criteria

Country/Territory	IBA Name	IBA link
Namibia	Etosha National Park
South Africa	Amersfoort - Bethal - Carolina District
South Africa	Blyde river canyon
South Africa	Chelmsford Nature Reserve
South Africa	Chrissie Pans
South Africa	De Hoop Nature Reserve
South Africa	Eastern False Bay mountains
South Africa	Fouriesburg - Bethlehem - Clarens
South Africa	Golden Gate Highlands and Qwaqwa National Parks
South Africa	Grassland Biosphere Reserve (proposed)
South Africa	Hlatikulu Nature Reserve
South Africa	Impendle Nature Reserve
South Africa	Itala Game Reserve
South Africa	Karkloof Nature Reserve
South Africa	Karoo Nature Reserve
South Africa	Kouga - Baviaanskloof complex
South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal mistbelt grasslands
South Africa	Magaliesberg and Witwatersberg
South Africa	Matatiele Commonage
South Africa	Natal Drakensberg Park
South Africa	Overberg wheatbelt
South Africa	Overstrand
South Africa	Pilanesberg National Park
South Africa	Platberg-Karoo Conservancy
South Africa	Southern Langeberg mountains
South Africa	Steenkampsberg
South Africa	Umgeni Vlei Nature Reserve
South Africa	Umvoti vlei
South Africa	Waterberg system

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	major	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 2000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Residential & commercial development

Housing & urban areas

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Agriculture & Aquaculture

Annual & perennial non-timber crops / Agro-industry farming

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Agriculture & Aquaculture

Livestock farming & ranching / Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Majority (50-90%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Medium Impact:

Stresses
Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Agriculture & Aquaculture

Wood & pulp plantations / Agro-industry plantations

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Majority (50-90%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Medium Impact:

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Transportation & service corridors

Utility & service lines

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Majority (50-90%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Medium Impact:

Stresses
Species mortality

Biological resource use

Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources / Persecution/control

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Species mortality

Biological resource use

Gathering terrestrial plants / Unintentional effects (species is not the target)

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Majority (50-90%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Medium Impact:

Stresses
Species mortality

Biological resource use

Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals / Intentional use (species is the target)

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases

Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases / Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris)

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Pollution

Agricultural & forestry effluents / Type Unknown/Unrecorded

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Species mortality

Climate change & severe weather

Droughts

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Past, Likely to Return

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Past Impact

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Climate change & severe weather

Habitat shifting & alteration

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Future

Whole (>90%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Utilisation

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Pets	Whole	Adults and juveniles	Wild	Subsistence, National	Non-trivial	Recent
Food (human)	Whole	Adults and juveniles	Wild	Subsistence, National	Non-trivial	Recent
Pets	Whole	Adults and juveniles	Wild	International	Trivial	Recent

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Anthropoides paradiseus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/05/2013.

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife

To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums.

Key facts
Current IUCN Red List category	Vulnerable
Family	Gruidae (Cranes)
Species name author	(Lichtenstein, 1793)
Population size	mature individuals
Population trend	Stable
Distribution size (breeding/resident)	887,000 km²
Country endemic?	No
Links to further information
- Summary information on this species - Climate change species distributions