Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) - BirdLife species factsheet

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Wattled Crane Bugeranus carunculatus

IUCN Red List Criteria

Critically Endangered
Endangered
Vulnerable	A2acde+3cde+4acde;C1+2a(ii)

IUCN Red List history

Year	Category
2012	Vulnerable
2008	Vulnerable
2006	Vulnerable
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Vulnerable
1996	Vulnerable
1994	Vulnerable
1988	Threatened

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	Does not normally occur in forest
Land mass type	continent	Average mass	8159 g

Distribution

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km²)	2,300,000	medium
Extent of Occurrence non-breeding (km²)	2,380,000	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Fragmentation		-

Population & trend

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
No. of mature individuals	4000-5300	medium	Estimated	2007
Population trend	Decreasing	medium		-
Number of subpopulations	3	-	-	-
Largest subpopulation	6000-8000	-	-	-
Generation length (yrs)	13	-	-	-
Population justification: Its present world population has been variously estimated at 7,700 individuals (Pittman 2007) or fewer (Morrison and van der Spuy 2006; Motsumi et al. 2007), fewer than 8,000 individuals (Beilfuss et al. 2007) and 6,000-8,000 individuals (Beilfuss et al. 2003), which is the estimate used here. This roughly equates to 4,000-5,300 mature individuals.
Trend justification: When estimates from the 1980s are compared with those from 2006, the species is judged to have declined significantly (Morrison and van der Spuy 2006), indicating declines in the last three generations. The comparison of 2002 estimates with those from 1993 suggests marked declines in Mozambique, Zambia and possibly Botswana (Hancock et al. 2003). The total population was recently stated to be in decline in nine range states (Beilfuss et al. 2007). The overall rate of decline is estimated to be rapid.

Country/Territory distribution

Country/Territory	Occurrence status	Extinct	Breeding	Non-breeding
Angola	Native	No
Botswana	Native	No
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Native	No
Ethiopia	Native	No
Guinea-Bissau	Vagrant	No		Yes
Lesotho	Vagrant	No		Yes
Malawi	Native	No
Mozambique	Native	No
Namibia	Native	No
South Africa	Native	No
Swaziland	Native	Yes	Yes
Tanzania	Native	No
Zambia	Native	No
Zimbabwe	Native	No

Important Bird Areas where this species has triggered the IBA criteria

Country/Territory	IBA Name	IBA link
Angola	Cuelei
Angola	Luando Strict Nature Reserve
Angola	Mombolo (Missão da Namba)
Angola	Mupa National Park
Botswana	Linyanti swamp/Chobe river
Botswana	Makgadikgadi Pans
Botswana	Okavango Delta
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Kundelungu National Park
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Lufira valley
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Upemba National Park
Ethiopia	Abijatta - Shalla Lakes National Park
Ethiopia	Akaki - Aba-Samuel wetlands
Ethiopia	Bahir Dar - Lake Tana
Ethiopia	Bale Mountains National Park
Ethiopia	Berga floodplain
Ethiopia	Boyo wetland
Ethiopia	Dilu Meda (Tefki)
Ethiopia	Finchaa and Chomen swamps
Ethiopia	Fogera plains
Ethiopia	Koffe swamp
Malawi	Kasungu National Park
Mozambique	Zambezi River Delta
Namibia	Eastern Caprivi wetlands
Namibia	Mahango Game Reserve and Kavango river
Namibia	Tsumkwe pan system
South Africa	Chrissie Pans
South Africa	Franklin vlei
South Africa	Grassland Biosphere Reserve (proposed)
South Africa	Hlatikulu Nature Reserve
South Africa	Karkloof Nature Reserve
South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal mistbelt grasslands
South Africa	Natal Drakensberg Park
South Africa	Steenkampsberg
South Africa	Umgeni Vlei Nature Reserve
South Africa	Umvoti vlei
Tanzania	Moyowosi - Kigosi Game Reserves
Tanzania	Ugalla River Game Reserve
Tanzania	Usangu flats
Zambia	Bangweulu Swamps
Zambia	Kafue Flats
Zambia	Kafue National Park
Zambia	Kalungwishi
Zambia	Kasanka National Park
Zambia	Liuwa Plain National Park
Zambia	Lukanga Swamp
Zambia	Lusenga Plain National Park
Zambia	Machile
Zambia	Minyanya Plain
Zambia	Nyika National Park (Zambia)
Zambia	Simungoma
Zambia	Sumbu National Park and Tondwa Game Management Area
Zambia	West Lunga National Park and Lukwakwa Game Management Area
Zimbabwe	Driefontein grasslands
Zimbabwe	Nyanga mountains
Zimbabwe	Stapleford Forest
Zimbabwe	Wabai Hill (Debshan Ranch)

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	unset
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	unset	breeding
Altitude	2000 - 4140 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Agriculture & Aquaculture

Annual & perennial non-timber crops / Small-holder 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

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Energy production & mining

Renewable energy

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Future

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 3

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Transportation & service corridors

Utility & service lines

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Species mortality

Biological resource use

Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources / Persecution/control

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Species mortality

Biological resource use

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

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

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
Species mortality

Human intrusions & disturbance

War, civil unrest & military exercises

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Negligible declines

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Species disturbance, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Human intrusions & disturbance

Work & other activities

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Species disturbance

Natural system modifications

Dams & water management/use / Dams (size unknown)

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Future

Majority (50-90%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 4

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Natural system modifications

Fire & fire suppression / Trend Unknown/Unrecorded

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Natural system modifications

Other ecosystem modifications

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Pollution

Agricultural & forestry effluents / Herbicides and pesticides

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Climate change & severe weather

Droughts

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Past, Likely to Return

Majority (50-90%)

Slow, Significant Decline

Past Impact

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Utilisation

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

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Bugeranus carunculatus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 22/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 22/05/2013.

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	(Gmelin, 1789)
Population size	4000-5300 mature individuals
Population trend	Decreasing
Distribution size (breeding/resident)	2,300,000 km²
Country endemic?	No
Links to further information
- Summary information on this species - Climate change species distributions