• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Struthio camelus and S. molybdophanes (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as S. camelus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	24,400,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	16.8 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be frequent to abundant throughout most of its range (del Hoyo et al. 1992).

Trend justification: This species has previously suffered owing to the plume trade and hunting, but is now most threatened by habitat loss (del Hoyo et al. 1992).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Algeria	extant	native	yes
Angola	extant	native	yes
Australia	extant	introduced	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native	yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes
Central African Republic	extant	native	yes
Chad	extant	native	yes
Djibouti	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	introduced	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Libya	extinct	native	yes
Mali	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native	yes
Nigeria	extant	native	yes
Senegal	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	marginal	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Food - human	subsistence, national
Handicrafts, jewellery, etc.	subsistence, national
Handicrafts, jewellery, etc.	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Common Ostrich Struthio camelus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/common-ostrich-struthio-camelus on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.