• 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
-	-	A2cd+3cd+4cd

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Vulnerable	A2cd+3cd+4cd
2016	Vulnerable	A2cd+3cd+4cd
2014	Vulnerable	A2cd+3cd+4cd
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)	1,660,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	inferred	1985-2030
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	30-49%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	30-49%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	30-49%	-	-	-
Generation length	15.08 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The population size has not been quantified owing to recent taxonomic splits.

Trend justification: No trend data are available, but numbers have noticeably decreased since the late 1980s, with a total disappearance from some areas (Ash and Atkins 2009). Given the severity of threats including being hunted for meat, feathers, and leather, egg collection, as well as habitat loss and degradation, the species is inferred to be undergoing a rapid decline over three generations (Mutiga et al. 2016, Ripple et al. 2019).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Djibouti	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

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

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 Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Handicrafts, jewellery, etc.	subsistence, national
Wearing apparel, accessories	subsistence

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Somali Ostrich Struthio molybdophanes. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/somali-ostrich-struthio-molybdophanes 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.