• 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. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	A4bcd

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Vulnerable	A4bcd
2012	Vulnerable	A4bcd
2010	Vulnerable	A4b,c,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	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	7,140,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	poor	estimated	1995-2089
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	30-49%	-	-	-
Generation length	31.3 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be widespread and common but sparse. However, there are fears that Allee effects may occur as a result of fragmentation and unnatural mortalities creating a lag in declines being noticed (L Kemp in litt. 2016). Range wide genetic analysis and population trends analyses are ongoing (L. Kemp. in litt. 2016).

Trend justification: An assessment of the species's status in South Africa (Kemp and Webster in litt. 2008) estimated a 20% loss in the area of suitable habitat within the species's national range in the past 15 years. If this figure is used to project declines into the future, this equates to a population decline of 74% over 94 years (three generations). Although declines are also suspected in other range countries (S. Thomsett and S. Tyler in litt. 2010), there are not thought to be significant declines in Zambia, which may be a stronghold of the species (P. Leonard and L. Roxburgh in litt. 2010). As such, and given that data is currently lacking and that it is difficult to accurately project future declines for such a long-lived species, a decline of 30-49% is projected over 94 years (three generations).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native	yes
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
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal Mistbelt Forests
South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal Mistbelt Grasslands

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	marginal	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	major	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	marginal	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	marginal	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Inland Deltas	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 4250 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion, Reduced reproductive success
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion, Reduced reproductive success
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
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, Reduced reproductive success
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations - Agro-industry plantations	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion, Reduced reproductive success
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations - Small-holder plantations	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion, Reduced reproductive success
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Unintentional effects (species is not the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Climate change & severe weather	Storms & flooding	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Climate change & severe weather	Temperature extremes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Human intrusions & disturbance	War, civil unrest & military exercises	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Viral/prion-induced diseases - Unspecified species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Fire & fire suppression - Trend Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 7
		Stresses Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Southern Ground-hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/southern-ground-hornbill-bucorvus-leadbeateri on 26/12/2024.
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 26/12/2024.