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

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
-	A4cd	A4cd

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Endangered	A4cd
2012	Endangered	A4cd
2010	Endangered	A4c,d
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,630,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	medium	inferred	2015
Population trend	decreasing	medium	inferred	1994-2025
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	50-79%	-	-	-
Generation length	10.3 years	-	-	-

Population justification: Allan (1994) carried out a census in the 1980s and estimated the entire population of Ludwig’s Bustard at 56,000–81,000 individuals, of which 50–75% were thought to occur in South Africa (Anderson 2000). A recent repeat of this census (2010-2012) in the South African part of the range estimated the current South African population at 114,000 birds (95% CI 87,000-148,000) (Shaw et al. 2015), and so the total population is inferred to fall within the range of 100,000-499,999 individuals. While there is therefore no clear evidence that the population has declined as projected (Jenkins et al. 2011), there is not enough information with which to understand the trend; Allan’s (1994) estimate was probably a significant underestimate, and the confidence intervals of the current estimate are very wide. Work is underway in Namibia to estimate the size of the Namibian population.

Trend justification: Based on collision rates with power lines from two areas, the best-case scenario indicates a decline of 51% over three generations in South Africa, which holds 50-75% of the global population (Jenkins et al. 2011). Given that power lines collisions also occur in Nambia (A. Scott and M. Scott in litt. 2010), and effective mitigation measures are yet to be implemented, a decline of 50-79% is estimated over the 31 year period from 1994-2025 (three generations).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Angola	Iona National Park
Namibia	Namib-Naukluft Park
Namibia	Sperrgebiet
South Africa	Augrabies Falls National Park
South Africa	Benfontein
South Africa	Bitterputs Conservation Area
South Africa	Camdeboo National Park
South Africa	Haramoep and Black Mountain Mine
South Africa	Karoo National Park
South Africa	Mattheus-Gat Conservation Area
South Africa	Olifants river estuary
South Africa	Orange River Mouth Wetlands
South Africa	Platberg-Karoo Conservancy
South Africa	Upper Orange River

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Desert	Hot	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Unintentional effects (species is not the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Energy production & mining	Renewable energy	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Species mortality
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Very Rapid Declines		High Impact: 8
		Stresses Species mortality

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Ludwig's Bustard Neotis ludwigii. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/ludwigs-bustard-neotis-ludwigii on 23/12/2024.
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 23/12/2024.