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

Taxonomic note

Scleroptila shelleyi and S. whytei (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously placed in the genus Francolinus and lumped as F. shelleyi 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
2024	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	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	488 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	3,450,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	5.24 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be generally common to locally rare (del Hoyo et al. 1994, Fuller et al. 2000). The species is declining owing to habitat degradation caused by over-grazing and burning (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Trend justification: The species is declining owing to habitat degradation caused by over-grazing and burning (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Burundi	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Altitude	20 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Shelley's Francolin Scleroptila shelleyi. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/shelleys-francolin-scleroptila-shelleyi 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.