The African houbara ( Chlamydotis undulata), also known as the houbara bustard ( houbara from for bustards in general), is a relatively small bustard native to North Africa, where it lives in arid habitats. The global population is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2014.[ There is a population in the Canary Islands which was assessed as Near Threatened in 2015, but has since also been assessed as Vulnerable.]
It is dull brown with black markings on the wings, a greyish neck and a black ruff along the side of the neck. Males are larger and heavier than females.
Description
The African houbara is a small to mid-sized bustard. It measures in length and spans across the wings. It is brown above and white below, with a black stripe down the sides of its neck. In flight, the long wings show large areas of black and brown on the flight feathers. The sexes are similar, but the female, between tall, is rather smaller and greyer above than the male, at tall.[ The body mass is in males and in females.][ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), .][
]
Taxonomy
Psophia undulata was the scientific name proposed by Joseph Franz von Jacquin in 1784 who described a houbara brought from Tripoli to Vienna's Tiergarten Schönbrunn.
MacQueen's bustard was long regarded a subspecies of the African houbara.
Results of analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences of 73 Chlamydotis samples indicates that the houbara bustard and MacQueen's bustard genetically diverged around 430,000 years ago from a common ancestor. The divergence between the African and Canarian houbara was estimated at 20,000 to 25,000 years ago.
Distribution and habitat
The African houbara is found in North Africa west of the Nile, mainly in the western part of the Sahara desert region in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara. Some old records exist from Sudan as well. A small population is found in the Canary Islands. The Asian houbara or MacQueen's bustard which was earlier included in this species occurs east of the Sinai Peninsula. The North African species is sedentary unlike the migratory northern populations of MacQueen's bustards.
The subspecies fuertaventurae of the Canary Islands is highly restricted and endangered. A 1997 survey found a total population of about 500 birds.
Behaviour and ecology
The African houbara has a flamboyant display raising the white feathers of the head and neck and withdrawing the head. Females lay two to four eggs on the ground.
It is omnivorous, eating seeds, insects and other small creatures.
Threats
In North Africa, the houbara bustard is hunted by falconry and by hunters with guns. The populations declined in the two decades before 2004, but have been increasing since.[
]
Conservation
The International Fund for Houbara Conservation developed and implemented a global conservation strategy over the past forty years with the objective of ensuring a sustainable future in the wild through conservation programmes and management plans. This strategy consists of an integrated approach combining ecology, protection measures in the wild, conservation breeding, and reinforcement programmes.
Further reading
External links
