World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pika): Pika — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Pikas (genus Ochotona) are small, round-eared alpine mammals related to rabbits that live on cold, rocky mountain slopes across Asia and western North America, where they are threatened by rising temperatures that their heat-sensitive bodies cannot tolerate.

## Introduction
Pikas are small, egg-shaped mammals of the genus Ochotona — the sole living genus in the family Ochotonidae — closely related to rabbits and hares within the order Lagomorpha. Don't let their mouse-like appearance fool you: pikas are not rodents. Roughly 37 species are currently recognised, though taxonomy is ongoing and some authorities place the count closer to 29–34; they range across the cold, rocky mountains of Asia and western North America, occupying talus slopes, boulder fields, and alpine meadows from the Himalayas and Tian Shan to the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. Most species are strictly associated with cold environments, unable to survive when air temperatures rise above roughly 25 °C (77 °F) for prolonged periods. Their loud, piercing calls — a sharp "eenk" that warns neighbours of approaching predators — make pikas one of the most audible yet often overlooked indicators of mountain ecosystem health. Several Asian species face serious decline; all species serve as sensitive barometers of climate change.

## Takeaway
Pikas are lagomorphs — relatives of rabbits — not rodents, despite their mouse-like appearance.

## Takeaway
Most species cannot survive prolonged temperatures above roughly 25 °C (77 °F), and for the American pika exposure above 28 °C (82 °F) can be lethal within hours — making pikas acutely vulnerable to climate warming.

## Takeaway
Rather than hibernating, pikas spend summer building 'haypiles' — caches of dried vegetation that sustain them through winter under the snowpack.

## Takeaway
The Ili pika (Ochotona iliensis) of China's Tian Shan mountains has declined by more than 70 % since the 1980s and is listed as Endangered by the IUCN (assessed 2018), with fewer than 1,000 individuals believed to survive.

## Takeaway
Pikas act as ecosystem engineers: their burrows aerate soil and their haypiling behaviour distributes plant material across talus slopes.

## Takeaway
The American pika has already disappeared from more than a third of previously documented sites in Oregon and Nevada, signalling rapid range contraction even in a species currently listed as Least Concern.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pika): Pika — wildlife guide.

## What is a pika, and how does it differ from a rabbit or rodent?
Pikas belong to the order Lagomorpha — the same group as rabbits and hares — not to the rodents (Rodentia), despite superficially resembling large mice. The key distinction lies in dentition: lagomorphs possess a second, smaller pair of upper incisors directly behind the main pair, a feature absent in rodents. Within Lagomorpha, pikas form their own family, Ochotonidae, first formally described by Oldfield Thomas in 1897. All living pikas belong to the single genus Ochotona, which currently contains roughly 37 recognised species, though taxonomic revisions continue to add species — particularly from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau — and some authorities place the total closer to 29 to 34 depending on how subspecies are treated. Physically, pikas are compact and rounded, measuring 14–25 cm in body length, with large, round ears, dense fur, very short limbs, and no obvious external tail. Their weight spans approximately 80 g (Gansu pika) to about 300 g (Glover's pika). Unlike their rabbit cousins, pikas do not possess the elongated hind legs built for speed; instead, their robust forelimbs and non-slip foot pads are adapted for scrambling across loose rock. Their dense, soft fur provides insulation in environments where temperatures can plummet well below freezing — an adaptation that also makes them dangerously sensitive to heat. The genus is sometimes divided into four subgenera based on ecology and social behaviour: burrowing steppe pikas and rock-dwelling mountain pikas.

## Where do pikas live, and what habitat do they need?
The majority of pika species are found across the mountain ranges of Central and East Asia: the Himalayas, Karakoram, Pamir, Tian Shan, Altai, and the vast Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which harbours the greatest species diversity. Two species — the American pika (Ochotona princeps) and the collared pika (Ochotona collaris) — inhabit the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, and Alaska Range of North America. Most species are strict specialists of cold, rocky terrain. Rock-dwelling species occupy talus slopes — accumulations of frost-shattered boulders — and cliff faces, where deep crevices provide refuges from predators and insulating microclimates. The talus acts as a natural air conditioner: cold air pooling within the rock voids keeps the interior several degrees cooler than surface air, protecting pikas from heat stress. Burrowing species (such as the plateau pika, Ochotona curzoniae, of the Tibetan Plateau) instead excavate extensive burrow networks in alpine meadow soils. Regardless of strategy, pikas require proximity to diverse, productive meadow vegetation, as they are year-round residents that must accumulate large food stores before winter. Their elevation range commonly spans 2,500–6,130 m above sea level, making them among the highest-dwelling mammals on Earth.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pika): Pika — wildlife guide.

## How do pikas survive winter without hibernating?
Unlike many alpine mammals, pikas do not hibernate. This remarkable strategy places exceptional demands on their summer behaviour. From late spring through early autumn, pikas engage in a behaviour called haypiling: they make repeated foraging trips to surrounding meadows, harvesting grasses, sedges, forbs, thistles, mosses, and wildflowers, then carrying mouthfuls back to their territory boundaries, where they construct haystacks beneath overhanging rocks. A single haystack can contain up to a bushel (roughly 35 litres) of dried vegetation — a critical winter food reserve. Research has revealed a sophisticated chemical ecology in this process: American pikas selectively harvest alpine avens (Geum rossii), a plant that is actually toxic to them when fresh, and layer it into their haypiles because it contains compounds that inhibit bacterial decay, effectively acting as a natural preservative. By the time winter arrives and the toxins have degraded, the avens becomes safe to eat. Pikas also engage in coprophagy — re-ingesting their own soft faecal pellets — to maximise nutrient extraction from tough plant material, a practice shared with rabbits. Under the insulating snowpack, pikas remain active in their talus microhabitats throughout winter, feeding on their cached stores. This dependence on both snowpack insulation and summer food accumulation makes pikas doubly vulnerable to climate change: reduced snowpack exposes them to lethal cold snaps, while shortened growing seasons reduce haypile size.

## Why are pikas threatened by climate change?
Pikas are among the world's most climate-vulnerable mammals. Most species begin to experience physiological heat stress at air temperatures of around 25 °C (77 °F), and research shows that American pikas can die from exposure to temperatures as low as 28 °C (82 °F) when unable to retreat into the talus, with death occurring within two hours under laboratory conditions. Unlike many mountain species that respond to warming by shifting their ranges upslope, pikas already inhabit the highest elevations available to them. At the summit, there is simply nowhere higher to go. The consequences are already measurable. American pikas have vanished from more than a third of their previously documented sites in Oregon and Nevada, representing one of the most extensive modern-era mammal extirpations recorded in the United States. Studies in the Sierra Nevada document habitat loss and fragmentation directly attributable to climate-mediated temperature increases. In Asia, the situation for some species is even more acute. The Ili pika (Ochotona iliensis), endemic to the Tian Shan mountains of China's Xinjiang province, has seen its population decline by more than 70 % since the 1980s and is listed as Endangered by the IUCN (assessed 2018), with fewer than 1,000 individuals believed to survive. Livestock grazing, air pollution, and reduced snowpack compound the climate signal for many Asian species. Because pikas are sensitive, early-responding indicators of warming, ecologists increasingly use their presence and distribution as a biological thermometer for mountain ecosystem health.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pika): Pika — wildlife guide.

## What role do pikas play in mountain ecosystems?
Despite their small size, pikas are ecologically disproportionate. On the Tibetan Plateau, the plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a keystone species whose burrow networks are fundamental to the functioning of the entire alpine grassland ecosystem. Their burrows aerate and turn over soil, improve water infiltration, and create microsites used for nesting by over 20 species of birds — including ground-nesting passerines and small raptors — as well as lizards and invertebrates. When plateau pika populations have been reduced through government-sponsored poisoning campaigns (aimed at protecting grazing land), the consequences have cascaded through the ecosystem: raptor populations crash, soil structure degrades, and erosion accelerates. Rock-dwelling pikas contribute differently: their haypiling deposits plant material in and around talus, redistributing nutrients and seeds across otherwise barren rocky terrain. As herbivores, pikas also serve as a critical prey base for a wide range of predators. Weasels, stoats, foxes, raptors such as golden eagles and kestrels, and mustelids all depend on pika populations. Their sharp alarm calls — described as a high, nasal 'eenk' — alert not only other pikas but also sympatric species to predator presence, functioning as a multi-species early-warning system. In this way, the pika's ecological role far exceeds what its modest frame might suggest.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run projects for pikas, as the organisation's in-country conservation network focuses on its partner-network countries — none of which fall within pika habitat. This guide is offered as free educational content. That said, public understanding of climate-driven species loss matters everywhere: the more people grasp how warming temperatures can push mountain specialists to extinction, the stronger the broad societal will to protect wild habitats globally — including those within WARN's network countries.

## Donation hook
Mountain ecosystems are warming faster than the global average, and species like the pika — with nowhere higher to retreat — are among the first to pay the price. Supporting WARN helps fund on-the-ground conservation and education that keeps wild habitats — and the species that depend on them — viable for the future.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pika): Pika — wildlife guide.

## Are pikas endangered?
It depends on the species. The American pika (Ochotona princeps) is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN overall (assessed 2016), though several of its subspecies are Vulnerable or Near Threatened and local populations have collapsed. The Ili pika (Ochotona iliensis) is listed as Endangered (assessed 2018), with a population estimated at fewer than 1,000 individuals and a decline of over 70 % since the 1980s. Across the genus, at least four species are classified as Endangered: the Ili pika, Kozlov's pika, Hoffmann's pika, and the silver pika.

## Do pikas hibernate in winter?
No — pikas are one of the few small alpine mammals that remain active all year without hibernating. Instead, they spend their summers building 'haypiles': caches of dried vegetation stored under overhanging rocks that sustain them through winter. They remain active beneath the snowpack, feeding on their stores inside the insulating talus.

## Can pikas survive in warm climates?
No. Most pika species begin to experience heat stress at sustained temperatures above about 25 °C (77 °F). For the American pika, exposure to temperatures as low as 28 °C (82 °F) can be lethal within as little as two hours when the animal cannot retreat into cool talus microhabitats. This physiological intolerance of warmth is the primary reason pikas are considered among the most vulnerable mammals to climate change.

## What do pikas eat?
Pikas are generalist herbivores that feed on a wide variety of alpine plants including grasses, sedges, forbs, wildflowers, thistles, mosses, and lichens. They also practice coprophagy — re-ingesting their soft faecal pellets — to maximise nutrient extraction. For winter stores, they selectively cache certain plant species, including some that are initially toxic but whose toxins degrade over time, effectively preserving the haystack.

## How do pikas communicate?
Pikas are unusually vocal for small mammals. They produce a short, sharp alarm call — often described as 'eenk' or 'ehh-ehh' — to warn neighbours of approaching predators such as weasels, foxes, or raptors. Males also produce longer 'songs' during the breeding season to attract mates and advertise territory. These calls travel effectively across open, rocky terrain and can alert multiple species simultaneously.

## Where do pikas live?
Pikas live in Up to 6,130 m (20,100 ft) above sea level. Pikas (genus Ochotona) are small, round-eared alpine mammals related to rabbits that live on cold, rocky mountain slopes across Asia and western North America, where they are threatened by rising temperatures that their heat-sensitive bodies cannot tolerate.

## Are pikas dangerous?
Pikas are not generally dangerous to people. Pikas (genus Ochotona) are small, round-eared alpine mammals related to rabbits that live on cold, rocky mountain slopes across Asia and western North America, where they are threatened by rising temperatures that their heat-sensitive bodies cannot tolerate. Give wild individuals space and do not corner or handle them.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/pika): Pika — wildlife guide.

## How long do pikas live?
Pikas typically live 3–6 years in the wild. Pikas (genus Ochotona) are small, round-eared alpine mammals related to rabbits that live on cold, rocky mountain slopes across Asia and western North America, where they are threatened by rising temperatures that their heat-sensitive bodies cannot tolerate. Wild and captive figures can differ; use the sources listed on the guide for the underlying studies.

## How big is a pika?
A Pika is about 14–25 cm (5.5–10 in). Pikas (genus Ochotona) are small, round-eared alpine mammals related to rabbits that live on cold, rocky mountain slopes across Asia and western North America, where they are threatened by rising temperatures that their heat-sensitive bodies cannot tolerate.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/condor): Condor — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Condors are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere: the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN with roughly 6,700 mature individuals remaining, while the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is Critically Endangered but recovering, with approximately 607 birds alive as of 2025 thanks to an intensive captive-breeding and reintroduction programme that saved it from a low of just 22 birds in 1982.

## Introduction
Condors are among the most awe-inspiring birds on Earth. The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) and the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) are the two living New World condors — massive, bald-headed vultures whose wingspans exceed those of any other land bird alive today. Riding invisible columns of warm air called thermals, an Andean condor can travel more than 160 kilometres in a single day without once flapping its wings. Despite their power and grandeur, both species face serious threats from human activity, above all the insidious danger of lead poisoning from ammunition fragments left in carcasses. The California condor declined to just 22 individuals by 1982 before an emergency captive-breeding programme began reversing its collapse, with the last wild bird brought into captivity in 1987. Understanding these birds — their biology, their ecological role and the pressures they face — is the first step towards ensuring they still circle the sky a century from now.

## Takeaway
Condors are obligate scavengers that clean ecosystems by consuming carcasses, preventing disease spread and recycling nutrients back into the soil.

## Takeaway
The California condor declined to just 22 individuals in 1982 and was fully taken into captivity by 1987; today more than 600 birds exist — one of conservation's most dramatic recoveries.

## Takeaway
Lead poisoning from ammunition fragments in hunted carcasses remains the single greatest threat to California condors, responsible for an estimated 60 percent of deaths.

## Takeaway
The Andean condor is a sacred symbol across seven South American nations — a national symbol in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela — and features on the coats of arms of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, embedded in Andean cosmology for at least 4,500 years.

## Takeaway
Both condor species reproduce exceptionally slowly — a pair raises only one chick every two to three years — making every individual death a significant population setback.

## Takeaway
In Colombia, the Andean condor is considered Critically Endangered at the national level, with fewer than 130 individuals estimated in the wild there.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/condor): Condor — wildlife guide.

## What is a condor, and how does it differ from other vultures?
Condors are New World vultures belonging to the family Cathartidae, a lineage distinct from the Old World vultures of Africa and Eurasia despite superficial similarities. Two species exist: the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), which holds the record for the largest wingspan of any raptor and is among the heaviest flying birds on Earth, and the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus), the largest flying land bird in North America. Both are obligate scavengers — they do not kill prey — and they locate food primarily by sight, scanning vast landscapes from great altitude. Andean condors can weigh up to 15 kg, with males notably larger than females. Their bare, wrinkled heads are an adaptation for hygiene: feathers would trap blood and bacteria when probing deep inside a carcass. Males of the Andean condor are further distinguished by a prominent fleshy caruncle on the forehead and a red eye colour, while females have red eyes but lack the caruncle. California condors sport a vivid orange-yellow head whose colour actually intensifies with emotional state, functioning as a social signal. Despite their imposing appearance, condors are gentle giants among raptors — their talons are not built for killing and their beaks, though powerful, evolved for tearing flesh from animals already dead.

## Where do condors live, and what habitats do they need?
The Andean condor ranges along the entire length of the Andes cordillera, from Venezuela and Colombia in the north through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia to Argentina and Chile at the southern tip of the continent. It favours open, unforested landscapes — high-altitude grasslands called páramo and puna, mountain cliffs and coastal desert plains — anywhere it can exploit updrafts and thermals. Cliff ledges serve as nest sites and communal roosts; these birds do not build nests but lay their single egg directly on rock. Andean condors have been recorded soaring at altitudes exceeding 5,500 metres above sea level. The California condor historically ranged across much of North America; today, reintroduced populations inhabit the coastal mountain ranges of California, the Grand Canyon region of Arizona and Utah, Baja California in Mexico, and the Pacific coast redwood forests. Both species require vast foraging territories — a single Andean condor may patrol thousands of square kilometres of landscape each week. Habitat integrity is therefore critical: deforestation, agricultural encroachment and the fragmentation of open grasslands all reduce the availability of the large-mammal carcasses on which condors depend.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/condor): Condor — wildlife guide.

## Why are condors endangered, and what threatens their survival?
Lead poisoning is the most documented and lethal threat to condors in the modern era, particularly for the California condor. When hunters kill deer, elk or other wildlife and leave behind gut piles or carcasses, lead rifle bullets fragment into hundreds of tiny metallic shards dispersed through the meat. Condors ingest these fragments when scavenging; lead is highly toxic to birds, impairing the nervous system and eventually causing paralysis and death. Studies attribute approximately 60 percent of California condor deaths to lead poisoning. The Andean condor faces a similar hazard in parts of its range, compounded by deliberate persecution — farmers have historically poisoned and shot condors in the belief that the birds kill livestock, despite no evidence of condors attacking healthy animals. Additional threats include collisions with power lines, which can be lethal to such large-bodied birds with slow reflexes relative to their size. Microtrash — bottle caps, wire, and other human debris that parents mistakenly feed to chicks as food — also kills California condor chicks. In 2023, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) killed approximately 21 California condors in the Utah-Arizona flock, highlighting emerging disease risks. For the Andean condor in Colombia, intense habitat loss in the Andes driven by agriculture and cattle ranching has pushed a nationally critical population toward the brink of local extinction.

## How do condors fly so effortlessly, and what is unique about their biology?
Condors are masterworks of aerodynamic efficiency. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that Andean condors spend just one percent of their flight time actively flapping their wings. Instead, they exploit thermals — columns of warm air that rise from sun-heated ground — and orographic updrafts generated when wind strikes a mountainside or cliff face. By circling within a thermal to gain altitude and then gliding toward the next rising current, an Andean condor can cover more than 160 kilometres in a single flight without a single wingbeat. California condors use the same strategy over coastlines and canyon country, soaring to heights of 4,500 metres. The condor's wingspan — up to 3.2 metres for the Andean condor — generates the surface area needed to exploit even weak thermals. Biologically, condors are extraordinary long-lived birds: Andean condors have been documented surviving past 70 years in captivity, and California condors past 45 years. They do not reach sexual maturity until five or six years of age, and a breeding pair typically raises only one chick every two to three years. For the California condor, the egg is incubated for 54 to 58 days by both parents; the Andean condor incubation period is slightly longer at 58 to 62 days. After hatching, the chick remains dependent on its parents for more than a year and may continue to receive food from them for up to two years — an unusually prolonged period of parental investment that reflects the species' strategy of raising very few, high-quality offspring.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/condor): Condor — wildlife guide.

## What conservation efforts are working to save condors?
The recovery of the California condor stands as one of wildlife conservation's most celebrated success stories. By 1982, the species had dwindled to just 22 individuals; a controversial decision was made to capture all remaining wild birds and launch an intensive captive-breeding programme. The last wild California condor was brought into captivity in April 1987. Beginning in 1992, captive-bred birds were reintroduced to the wild. By the end of 2025, the global population had reached approximately 607 individuals — a roughly 27-fold increase driven by meticulous management including veterinary treatment for lead poisoning, puppet-rearing techniques to prevent human imprinting, and targeted outreach to hunters encouraging the use of non-lead ammunition. The Andean condor has benefited from reintroduction programmes in Colombia, Argentina and Chile, including novel artificial incubation techniques piloted in Colombia in 2025 to improve egg survival rates. Legal protections across its range countries provide important foundations. Researchers using GPS tracking and biologger devices have revealed the birds' spectacular ranging behaviour, informing reserve and corridor design. Nevertheless, the California condor cannot yet sustain itself without continued intervention — particularly until lead ammunition is phased out from condor foraging areas — and the Andean condor's global population trend remains downward, with Colombia's national population critically small.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently operate field projects dedicated to condors, and this guide is offered as free educational content to raise awareness of these remarkable birds. Condors do range into Colombia, one of the countries in WARN's partner network where WARN funds rescue and conservation partners — and public awareness of the Andean condor's precarious status in Colombia's Andes is itself a conservation tool, supporting the broader culture of care for wildlife that partner organisations depend on.

## Donation hook
Condors soar above some of the world's most biodiverse landscapes, including Colombia's Andes — a country where WARN works with rescue and conservation partners. Every donation to WARN helps build the culture of wildlife protection that species like the condor depend on.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/condor): Condor — wildlife guide.

## How big is a condor's wingspan?
The Andean condor holds the record for the largest wingspan of any raptor, reaching up to 3.2 metres (10 feet 6 inches) according to Guinness World Records, with some individuals recorded at 3.3 metres. The California condor is slightly smaller, with a wingspan of up to 2.9 metres (9 feet 6 inches). For comparison, the wandering albatross — the largest wingspan of any living bird overall — can exceed 3.5 metres, but albatrosses are seabirds rather than raptors.

## Are condors eagles or vultures?
Condors are vultures, not eagles. They belong to the family Cathartidae — the New World vultures — which is biologically distinct from Old World vultures (Accipitridae, the same family as eagles and hawks). Despite converging on a similar appearance through evolution, New World and Old World vultures are not closely related. Condors are therefore more distantly related to eagles than their bald heads and soaring habits might suggest.

## Why was the California condor almost extinct?
California condors were driven to the brink of extinction by a combination of lead poisoning from ammunition fragments in carcasses they scavenged, collisions with power lines, habitat loss, hunting, and collection of eggs and specimens in the 19th and early 20th centuries. By 1982, the population had fallen to just 22 individuals. The species was saved by an emergency captive-breeding programme; the last wild bird was captured in April 1987, and reintroductions to the wild began in 1992.

## What do condors eat?
Both condor species are obligate scavengers — they feed exclusively on carrion (the carcasses of dead animals). They do not hunt or kill prey. Andean condors typically feed on the carcasses of large mammals such as llamas, deer, guanacos and cattle, as well as beached marine mammals along the Pacific coast. California condors in their historic range fed on mammoths, giant sloths and other megafauna; today they scavenge deer, elk, cattle and marine mammals. Their bald heads and strong, hooked beaks are adaptations for this specialised diet.

## How long do condors live?
Condors are among the longest-lived birds. Andean condors in captivity have been documented living more than 70 years. California condors in captivity have survived past 45 years, with average wild lifespans typically shorter due to threats such as lead poisoning. Their exceptional longevity is paired with slow reproduction — together these traits make population recovery a long, painstaking process.

## Is the Andean condor the national bird of Colombia?
Yes. The Andean condor is the national bird of Colombia, as well as of Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador. It appears on the national coat of arms of all four of these countries. The condor is additionally a national symbol in Argentina, Peru and Venezuela, where it features in national imagery and folklore. Despite this revered status, the species is considered Critically Endangered at the national level in Colombia, with an estimated population of fewer than 130 wild individuals.

## Where do condors live?
Andean condors soar over the high mountains and coastal cliffs of western South America, from Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego, riding thermals with wingspans up to 3.2 m. California condors occupy canyon and coastal scrub in California, Arizona and Baja California. Both species depend on open country with strong updrafts and access to large mammal carcasses.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/condor): Condor — wildlife guide.

## Are condors dangerous?
Condors are not aggressive toward people. Both species are obligate scavengers feeding exclusively on carrion, with bald heads and hooked beaks adapted for tearing dead animals. The main danger runs the other way — lead poisoning from ammunition fragments in carcasses has driven California condor numbers as low as 22 individuals by 1982.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kiwi): Kiwi — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird unique to New Zealand — all five species are threatened, with an estimated 68,000 individuals remaining and unmanaged populations declining at roughly 2 percent per year.

## Introduction
The kiwi is one of the most extraordinary birds on Earth. Sole members of the family Apterygidae, the five recognised species of the genus Apteryx are endemic to New Zealand — they exist nowhere else in the world. Flightless, nocturnal, and roughly the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi have spent tens of millions of years evolving in almost complete isolation, developing traits found in no other bird: nostrils at the tip of the beak rather than the base, hair-like feathers, vestigial wings hidden beneath their plumage, and a sense of smell sharp enough to detect earthworms buried several centimetres underground. An egg that can constitute up to 20 percent of the female's body weight is another record-breaker. Deeply embedded in Māori culture and named a national symbol of New Zealand, the kiwi is today under severe pressure from introduced predators, with all five species listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List.

## Takeaway
All five kiwi species are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List, ranging from Near Threatened (little spotted kiwi) to Vulnerable (North Island brown kiwi, great spotted kiwi, southern brown kiwi, Okarito kiwi).

## Takeaway
The kiwi is the only bird known to have nostrils at the tip of its bill, giving it an exceptional sense of smell used to locate prey underground.

## Takeaway
A kiwi egg can weigh up to 20 percent of the female's body mass — proportionally the largest egg of any bird species on Earth.

## Takeaway
Introduced predators — especially stoats, dogs, cats and ferrets — are the primary threat; up to 95 percent of unmanaged kiwi chicks do not survive to six months of age.

## Takeaway
Conservation programmes such as Operation Nest Egg have dramatically improved survival rates, raising chick survival from around 5 percent to 65 percent for programme-raised birds.

## Takeaway
The Okarito kiwi (rowi) was rescued from just 165 birds in the mid-1990s to approximately 700 by 2024 through intensive predator management and captive-rearing, demonstrating what sustained effort can achieve.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kiwi): Kiwi — wildlife guide.

## What is a kiwi, and why is it so unusual?
The kiwi belongs to the ancient bird group known as ratites — flightless birds that also includes ostriches, emus, cassowaries and rheas. However, kiwi diverged along a remarkable evolutionary path after New Zealand separated from the supercontinent Gondwana roughly 80 million years ago. In the absence of land mammals, kiwi filled the ecological niche of small nocturnal foragers, evolving traits that more closely resemble a mammal than a typical bird.

Their wings have been reduced to tiny, finger-length remnants entirely hidden beneath their plumage — so small as to be functionally invisible. Their feathers are loose and hair-like, lacking the interlocking barbules found in flying birds. Most striking of all, the nostrils are positioned at the very tip of the long, flexible bill rather than at the base near the skull — an arrangement unique in the bird world. Combined with an unusually large olfactory bulb in the brain, this makes the kiwi the only bird that relies primarily on smell rather than sight or hearing to locate food. Earthworms, beetle larvae, spiders, fallen fruit and even crayfish are tracked by scent alone, often from beneath the surface.

Kiwi also have a body temperature of around 38 °C — significantly lower than most birds and closer to the mammalian range — and their bone structure is denser and less hollow than in flying birds. Five species are currently recognised: the North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli), the great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii), the little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii), the southern brown kiwi or tokoeka (Apteryx australis), and the Okarito kiwi or rowi (Apteryx rowi).

## Where do kiwi live, and what habitat do they need?
Kiwi are found exclusively across New Zealand's North and South Islands and several offshore islands, occupying a range of habitat types that varies by species. The North Island brown kiwi, the most widespread and numerous species with an estimated 26,000 individuals, inhabits native forests, pine plantations, scrubland, and even farmland edges across the northern North Island. Its ability to persist in modified habitats makes it relatively resilient compared to other species.

The great spotted kiwi is confined to the northwest of the South Island — principally the Nelson Lakes, Paparoa Range, and Arthur's Pass areas — where it favours montane beech forests and subalpine scrub at elevations up to 1,500 metres. The southern brown kiwi occurs in Fiordland and on Stewart Island (Rakiura), New Zealand's third-largest island, where populations have fared better partly because stoat density is naturally lower.

The Okarito kiwi is restricted to a narrow strip of lowland rainforest on the West Coast of the South Island near Okarito Lagoon — one of the most geographically limited distributions of any bird in New Zealand. The little spotted kiwi was once found throughout the South Island but mainland populations were extirpated by introduced predators; today the species survives primarily on predator-free offshore islands, most notably Kapiti Island north of Wellington, where roughly 1,200 individuals live.

All kiwi require dense cover for daytime shelter — burrows, hollow logs, dense root systems, or thick vegetation. Territory sizes range from around 2 hectares for some North Island brown kiwi pairs to over 40 hectares for great spotted kiwi in more sparsely productive upland terrain.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kiwi): Kiwi — wildlife guide.

## Why are kiwi threatened with extinction?
Every one of the five kiwi species is classified as threatened on the IUCN Red List, and the cumulative wild population of approximately 68,000 birds represents a catastrophic decline from an estimated 12 million before Polynesian and European settlement. The primary driver of ongoing decline is predation by introduced mammals — species that evolved alongside birds in other parts of the world but to which kiwi have no meaningful defence.

Stoats are the most lethal threat to kiwi chicks. In years when beech trees produce heavy seed crops (called mast years), rodent populations explode and are followed by a surge in stoat numbers. Research by New Zealand's Department of Conservation has established that up to 95 percent of kiwi chicks in unmanaged areas do not survive to six months of age, with stoats responsible for the majority of deaths. Adult kiwi are more vulnerable to dogs and ferrets; a single uncontrolled dog can eliminate an entire local kiwi population within days.

Habitat loss compounded these pressures over more than 150 years. Lowland forests — the most productive kiwi habitat — were cleared extensively for agriculture and urban development, fragmenting populations and pushing birds into smaller, more isolated patches where genetic diversity can decline. Road strikes kill a meaningful number of birds each year in areas where kiwi ranges overlap with human settlement.

In unmanaged areas, populations decline at roughly 2 percent annually — the equivalent of losing around 20 birds every week across the country. Without sustained intervention, modelling suggests kiwi could be functionally extinct on mainland New Zealand within decades.

## How do kiwi reproduce, and what makes their eggs exceptional?
Kiwi reproduction is as extraordinary as every other aspect of their biology. Pairs form long-term monogamous bonds that can persist for 20 years or more, meeting in shared nesting burrows every few nights during the breeding season, which typically runs from June to March. Males are highly territorial and advertise their presence with loud, distinctive calls — the shrill, repeated 'kee-wee' of the North Island brown kiwi is one of New Zealand's most recognisable sounds.

The female's egg is proportionally the largest of any bird relative to body size. A female North Island brown kiwi weighing around 2.6 kg produces an egg of up to 450 grams — approximately 15–20 percent of her body weight. For comparison, a hen's egg is about 3 percent of the chicken's mass. The egg is rich in yolk and produces an unusually well-developed chick: kiwi hatchlings emerge with a full coat of feathers and are largely independent within days, requiring no parental feeding.

In most kiwi species, incubation is carried out primarily by the male, who can lose significant body weight during the 63–92 day incubation period. The little spotted kiwi and North Island brown kiwi are incubated solely by the male, while the great spotted kiwi, rowi and tokoeka share incubation duties between both parents to varying degrees. Females commonly lay more than one egg per season and great spotted kiwi occasionally lay two eggs per clutch.

This slow reproductive rate — typically one chick per pair per year even under ideal conditions — means populations recover very slowly from losses and makes predation pressure especially damaging at the population level.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kiwi): Kiwi — wildlife guide.

## What conservation efforts are protecting kiwi today?
New Zealand has developed some of the world's most sophisticated bird conservation programmes specifically for kiwi. The cornerstone is Operation Nest Egg, a captive head-starting programme in which wild eggs and very young chicks are collected and raised in predator-free facilities until they reach approximately 1,200 grams — the size at which they can withstand a stoat attack. Programme-raised birds achieve around 65 percent survival to adulthood compared to just 5 percent for wild-reared chicks in unmanaged areas, making it one of the most successful conservation interventions of its kind.

At landscape scale, the aerial application of the biodegradable pesticide 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) to suppress stoats, rats and possums has proven highly effective. Studies tracking radio-tagged kiwi through 1080 operations have confirmed that the birds are not harmed by the bait, while chick survival in the first season following treatment rises substantially. Extensive trapping networks maintained by community volunteer groups supplement aerial operations in many areas.

Predator-free islands serve as critical insurance populations. The transfer of little spotted kiwi to Kapiti Island in 1912 from just five individuals has grown into a population of around 1,200 birds — a founding stock now used to seed additional island and fenced sanctuaries. The Okarito kiwi (rowi) increased from approximately 165 birds in the 1990s to around 700 by 2024 through a combination of Operation Nest Egg and intensive predator control, demonstrating what a focused, multi-decade programme can achieve.

New Zealand's Department of Conservation continues to expand kiwi recovery through predator management, population monitoring, and community engagement. The long-term national goal is the creation of large predator-free zones across both main islands through the Predator Free 2050 initiative.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run projects in New Zealand and this guide is offered as free educational content to raise awareness of one of the world's most remarkable threatened birds. Understanding why island endemics are so vulnerable to introduced predators — and how targeted intervention can reverse declines — informs conservation thinking globally, including in WARN's partner countries where similar pressures affect native wildlife.

## Donation hook
Every dollar that supports habitat protection and predator control helps ensure that ancient, irreplaceable creatures like the kiwi — birds that have lived on islands for millions of years — are not lost to threats introduced in the last few centuries. Supporting WARN's habitat work keeps the knowledge, funding, and passion for wildlife alive.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kiwi): Kiwi — wildlife guide.

## How many kiwi are left in the wild?
Approximately 68,000 kiwi remain across all five species, according to New Zealand's Department of Conservation. This represents a steep decline from an estimated 12 million before human settlement. The North Island brown kiwi is the most numerous at around 26,000 individuals; the Okarito kiwi (rowi) is the rarest, with approximately 700 birds as of 2024.

## Can kiwi fly?
No. Kiwi are completely flightless. Their wings have been reduced through evolution to tiny, finger-length stubs hidden beneath their plumage, and their breastbones lack the keel (crest) to which flight muscles attach in flying birds. They move entirely on the ground, using their powerful legs — which account for roughly a third of their body weight — to run, kick and dig.

## Why does the kiwi lay such a large egg?
A kiwi egg can weigh up to 20 percent of the female's body mass — the largest egg-to-body ratio of any bird on Earth. The egg is proportionally enormous because it is packed with a very large, nutrient-rich yolk that sustains the developing chick through a long incubation period of 63–92 days. The result is a fully feathered, highly developed hatchling that does not need to be fed by its parents after hatching.

## What is the biggest threat to kiwi survival?
Introduced mammalian predators are the primary threat. Stoats are the leading killer of kiwi chicks — in unmanaged areas, up to 95 percent of chicks do not survive to six months. Adult kiwi are most often killed by dogs and ferrets. Habitat loss and fragmentation are additional long-term pressures. Road strikes and secondary poisoning are minor but locally significant threats.

## What do kiwi eat?
Kiwi are omnivores that feed mainly on invertebrates. Earthworms form the staple diet for most species, supplemented by beetle larvae, weta, spiders, centipedes and snails. They also eat fallen berries, seeds and occasionally freshwater crayfish (koura). Food is located almost entirely by smell, with the bird probing soft soil and leaf litter with its long, sensitive bill.

## Where do kiwis live?
Kiwis live in Forests, scrubland, grassland edges (New Zealand only). The kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird unique to New Zealand — all five species are threatened, with an estimated 68,000 individuals remaining and unmanaged populations declining at roughly 2 percent per year.

## Are kiwis dangerous?
Kiwis are domesticated animals and are not dangerous to people in the wild-predator sense. The kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird unique to New Zealand — all five species are threatened, with an estimated 68,000 individuals remaining and unmanaged populations declining at roughly 2 percent per year. Usual risks are husbandry and handling, not unprovoked attacks.

## How long do kiwis live?
Kiwis typically live 20–30 years in the wild; up to 50 in managed settings. The kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird unique to New Zealand — all five species are threatened, with an estimated 68,000 individuals remaining and unmanaged populations declining at roughly 2 percent per year. Wild and captive figures can differ; use the sources listed on the guide for the underlying studies.

## How big is a kiwi?
A Kiwi is about 25–55 cm (depending on species). The kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird unique to New Zealand — all five species are threatened, with an estimated 68,000 individuals remaining and unmanaged populations declining at roughly 2 percent per year. Conservation status: All 5 species threatened (IUCN).


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/cassowary): Cassowary — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The cassowary is a large, flightless bird native to the rainforests of New Guinea and north-eastern Australia, renowned for its bony head casque, vivid neck colouring, and critical role as a seed disperser for hundreds of tropical plant species.

## Introduction
The cassowary is one of the world's most extraordinary birds: a towering, flightless ratite cloaked in glossy black feathers, topped with a bony helmet called a casque, and armed with a dagger-like inner claw that can reach 12 cm in length. Three species inhabit the tropical rainforests and montane forests of New Guinea and the surrounding islands, with the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) also found in the Wet Tropics of north-eastern Queensland, Australia. Despite their fearsome reputation, cassowaries are far more valuable as ecological architects than as threats: they are the only animals capable of dispersing the large seeds of more than 45 rainforest plant species, making them an irreplaceable keystone species. Without them, the forest itself would change beyond recognition.

## Takeaway
Cassowaries are ratites — ancient flightless birds related to emus, ostriches, and rheas — with three living species, all native to New Guinea and its surrounding region.

## Takeaway
The southern cassowary is the largest of the three and can stand up to 1.7 m tall, with females heavier than males at up to 76 kg.

## Takeaway
Their bony casque is covered in keratin and likely helps amplify low-frequency calls and may assist with thermoregulation or social signalling.

## Takeaway
Cassowaries are keystone seed dispersers: they swallow whole fruits and deposit seeds up to 1.5 km from parent trees, sustaining at least 238 plant species and enabling forest regeneration after cyclones.

## Takeaway
The Australian population is listed as Endangered under domestic law, with vehicle strikes accounting for roughly 55% of recorded adult deaths and dog attacks a further 18%.

## Takeaway
Habitat loss has already removed 75–80% of former cassowary habitat in Australia, making road-safety corridors and forest protection urgent conservation priorities.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/cassowary): Cassowary — wildlife guide.

## What is a cassowary?
Cassowaries belong to the ratite lineage, a group of large, flightless birds that diverged from flying ancestors tens of millions of years ago and spread across the southern continents. The three living species — southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), northern cassowary (C. unappendiculatus), and dwarf cassowary (C. bennetti) — form the family Casuariidae within the order Casuariiformes, which also includes the emu. All three species share a suite of dramatic features. The plumage is uniformly glossy black, formed by modified, hair-like feathers that lack the interlocking barbules of typical bird feathers. The skin of the neck and face blazes in vivid blue, violet, and red, varying by species. Most striking of all is the casque: a hollow, keratinous helmet that grows throughout the bird's life and can reach up to 17 cm in height. Researchers believe it may amplify the bird's deep, booming calls — which fall partly below the threshold of human hearing — and could also help with thermoregulation or provide protection as the bird pushes through dense undergrowth. The cassowary's inner toe bears a straight, dagger-like claw up to 12 cm long. Though the bird is generally shy and avoids humans, it can deliver a powerful forward kick when cornered, making it one of the few birds genuinely capable of injuring a person.

## Where do cassowaries live?
Cassowaries are creatures of dense, humid tropical rainforest. The southern cassowary occupies lowland and foothill rainforest across New Guinea — including the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua as well as Papua New Guinea — the Aru Islands, Seram, and the Wet Tropics of north-eastern Queensland, Australia. The northern cassowary is largely confined to lowland forests of West New Guinea and the Vogelkop Peninsula, while the smaller dwarf cassowary favours higher-altitude montane forests across New Guinea and some satellite islands. All three species depend on areas with abundant fruiting trees and enough forest cover to buffer temperature extremes. In Australia, suitable habitat is now largely restricted to a narrow coastal strip between Cooktown and Townsville, centred on the World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics. Camera-trap studies published in 2025 confirmed that Australian cassowaries show strong habitat associations with high rainfall and intact forest quality, avoiding degraded and fragmented areas. Their large home ranges — up to 5 sq km for a single bird — mean even moderate habitat fragmentation can sever access to seasonally essential food trees.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/cassowary): Cassowary — wildlife guide.

## What do cassowaries eat and why does it matter?
Cassowaries are predominantly frugivorous, consuming fallen fruit from at least 238 plant species recorded in Queensland alone. They swallow fruit whole, and their large gizzard processes the flesh while many seeds pass through undamaged — or even with improved germination rates, as the digestive process scarifies hard seed coats and deposits seeds in a packet of nutrient-rich droppings. This makes the cassowary the only long-distance dispersal agent for more than 45 rainforest plant species whose seeds are simply too large for any other animal to swallow. Without cassowaries, these plants would be limited to short-range dispersal via falling from the parent tree, drastically reducing genetic exchange between forest patches. After Cyclone Larry struck north Queensland in 2006, cassowaries were observed moving immediately into damaged forest, and researchers noted that subsequent regeneration was measurably richer in large-seeded species in areas with active cassowaries than in those without. This 'gardener of the rainforest' role makes the cassowary an ecological keystone: its loss would trigger a cascade of changes that would fundamentally alter forest composition over decades. Cassowaries supplement their fruit diet with fungi, snails, insects, and occasionally small vertebrates, particularly when fruit is scarce in drier months.

## How do cassowaries breed and raise young?
Cassowary breeding biology upends typical avian gender roles in a striking way. Females are larger than males, hold larger territories, and are polyandrous — mating with several males in sequence across a single breeding season. Breeding in New Guinea typically runs from June to October, coinciding with the peak fruiting season following the dry period. The female lays three to eight large, pale green or blue-green eggs into a shallow nest of leaf litter prepared by the male, then departs to find another mate, leaving all parental duties to him. The male incubates the eggs alone for approximately 49 to 52 days, carefully adding or removing leaf litter to regulate nest temperature. After hatching, the chicks — striped brown and cream for camouflage — remain with their father for up to nine months. The male breaks fruit flesh into manageable pieces and catches insects to provide chicks with protein during their rapid growth phase. He defends them aggressively against predators. Young cassowaries begin to take on the adult black plumage and developing casque at around 12 to 18 months, and reach full sexual maturity at roughly three years of age. In the wild, cassowaries are believed to live for around 18 to 22 years, though captive birds have survived beyond 40 years.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/cassowary): Cassowary — wildlife guide.

## Why are cassowaries at risk, and what is being done?
Globally, the southern cassowary is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN (2018 assessment, population 20,000–50,000 mature individuals, trend decreasing), partly because the large New Guinea population remains relatively intact. However, the Australian subspecies (C. c. johnsonii) is listed as Endangered under Australian federal law — the EPBC Act — and as Endangered in Queensland, with only an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 individuals remaining in the wild. Habitat loss is the root cause: an estimated 75–80% of former cassowary habitat in Australia has been cleared for agriculture and development. Of deaths that can be attributed to a specific cause, vehicle strikes account for approximately 55% and dog attacks a further 18%. Roads that bisect remaining rainforest fragments are particularly lethal during wet-season fruit shortages when birds range more widely. Conservation responses in Australia include wildlife crossing structures, reduced speed limits in cassowary zones, public feeding bans (hand-feeding habituates birds to roadsides), and community monitoring programs that encourage residents to report sightings and injured birds. In New Guinea, the primary threats are hunting for meat and feathers, as well as forest clearance. While cassowaries are not listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), export of live cassowaries is prohibited by national law in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea — an important check on the live-bird and feather trade.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run projects for the cassowary — this guide is offered as free educational content to support public awareness. Cassowaries range across New Guinea and Australia, outside WARN's current active countries, though their habitat does extend into Indonesia's West Papua province, which borders WARN's regional focus area. Understanding the ecological importance of species like the cassowary helps build the case for protecting intact tropical forests everywhere, and that knowledge connects directly to WARN's rainforest and habitat conservation work in Indonesia and beyond.

## Donation hook
Intact tropical rainforest is the cassowary's lifeline — and the lifeline of the hundreds of plant species that depend on it to spread their seeds. WARN's habitat protection work helps preserve the forests that species like the cassowary, and countless others, cannot live without. Every contribution supports that mission.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/cassowary): Cassowary — wildlife guide.

## Is the cassowary really the world's most dangerous bird?
That label is often repeated, but context matters. Cassowaries are naturally shy and will flee from humans if given the chance. Recorded attacks almost always involve birds that have been hand-fed by people — causing them to associate humans with food — or males defending chicks. A cassowary's forward kick can inflict serious puncture wounds with its dagger claw, but fatalities are extremely rare; one human death in Australia was recorded in 1926, and another in the United States in 2019 involved a captive bird kept on private property in Florida. Respecting cassowaries' space, never feeding them, and keeping dogs on leads in cassowary habitat are the most effective safety measures.

## How many species of cassowary are there?
There are three living species. The southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) is the largest and best-known, found in New Guinea, the Aru and Seram islands, and north-east Australia. The northern cassowary (C. unappendiculatus) is slightly smaller and restricted to lowland New Guinea. The dwarf cassowary (C. bennetti) is the smallest and lives in montane forests across New Guinea and some offshore islands. All share the characteristic black plumage, keratinous casque, and dagger inner claw, but differ in wattle number and colouration.

## What does the cassowary's casque do?
The exact function of the casque — the bony, keratin-covered helmet on the cassowary's head — is still debated among researchers. Current leading hypotheses include acoustic amplification of the bird's very low-frequency booming calls (which carry through dense forest), thermoregulation (the casque is well-vascularised and could radiate or absorb heat), social signalling to indicate dominance or age, and physical protection as the bird pushes through thick undergrowth at speed. The casque grows throughout the bird's life, reaching up to 17 cm in height, so older individuals have larger, more conspicuous structures. It is not solid bone — the interior is spongy and may enhance sound resonance.

## Why is the cassowary so important to the rainforest?
Cassowaries are one of the only animals in the world capable of swallowing the very large fruits produced by over 45 rainforest plant species. They disperse these seeds up to 1.5 km from the parent tree, maintaining genetic diversity among plant populations and allowing forest to colonise new ground after disturbances such as cyclones or landslides. Studies after Cyclone Larry in 2006 showed that forest patches with cassowaries recovered a richer plant community than areas without them. If cassowaries were to disappear, the affected plant species would lose their primary long-distance dispersal mechanism, and forest composition would shift substantially over time.

## What are the main threats to cassowaries in Australia?
In Australia's Wet Tropics, vehicle strikes cause approximately 55% of recorded cassowary deaths — roads that cut through remaining forest are particularly deadly when birds range widely in search of fruit during the dry season. Dog attacks account for around 18% of deaths, with pet and feral dogs killing chicks and juveniles as well as adults. Habitat loss is the underlying driver of vulnerability: roughly 75–80% of former cassowary habitat in Queensland has been cleared, leaving a small, fragmented population with limited ability to move safely between forest patches. Disease, flooding, and tropical cyclones are additional periodic threats.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/cassowary): Cassowary — wildlife guide.

## Can cassowaries be kept or traded legally?
In Australia, keeping a cassowary requires a special licence and is only permitted in sanctioned wildlife facilities — private ownership is not allowed. In Papua New Guinea, cassowaries have been raised in villages for centuries as a source of food and ceremonial feathers, a practice that continues today but at a scale unlikely to threaten the overall population. Although cassowaries are not listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the export of live cassowaries is prohibited by national law in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea, providing domestic protections against commercial trade in wild-caught birds.

## What do cassowaries eat?
Cassowaries are mainly frugivores, also eating fungi and invertebrates. They are the only animals capable of swallowing and dispersing the large seeds of more than 45 rainforest plant species, carrying them up to 1.5 km from the parent tree.

## Where do cassowaries live?
Three cassowary species inhabit tropical and montane rainforests of New Guinea and surrounding islands. The southern cassowary also ranges through the Wet Tropics of north-eastern Queensland, Australia, where an estimated 4,000–5,000 wild birds remain.

## How long do cassowaries live?
Southern cassowaries typically live about 18–22 years in the wild. The male alone incubates eggs for 49–52 days and then guards the striped chicks for up to nine months — one of the longest paternal-care periods among birds.

## How big is a cassowary?
The southern cassowary stands up to 1.7 metres tall, with females reaching up to 76 kg — heavier than males. Their dagger-like inner claw can reach 12 cm, and the bony casque on the head grows throughout life, reaching up to 17 cm in older birds.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kookaburra): Kookaburra — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is the world's largest kingfisher, native to eastern Australia, and is famous for its loud, cackling territorial call often described as human laughter.

## Introduction
The laughing kookaburra is the world's largest kingfisher, a stocky, brown-and-white bird famous for the raucous, human-like laughter it belts across Australian bushland at dawn and dusk. Weighing up to 465 g and measuring around 45 cm from bill-tip to tail, it is instantly recognisable by its massive, dagger-shaped bill and chocolate-brown eye-stripe. Unlike most kingfishers, which plunge-dive for fish, the kookaburra is a terrestrial ambush predator — dropping from a perch to seize lizards, snakes, mice, and large insects on the ground. It inhabits open eucalyptus woodland, forest edges, farmland, and suburban parks across eastern Australia, and has been deliberately introduced to Tasmania, south-western Australia, Kangaroo Island, and parts of New Zealand. Its iconic call has become one of the most recognisable sounds on Earth.

## Takeaway
The laughing kookaburra is the largest kingfisher in the world, yet rarely eats fish — it prefers reptiles, rodents, and large insects.

## Takeaway
Its iconic call is used to declare and defend territory; family groups chorus together at sunrise and sunset in a coordinated display.

## Takeaway
Kookaburras are cooperative breeders: adult offspring from previous seasons act as helpers, assisting the dominant pair with incubation, chick-feeding, and nest defence.

## Takeaway
Despite a global population estimated at around 65 million individuals, the IUCN's 2024 assessment records the overall trend as decreasing, with citizen-science data showing a ~50% fall in survey sightings across south-eastern Australia between 2000 and 2019.

## Takeaway
Mature trees with natural hollows are essential for nesting; competition with introduced common mynas and European starlings for these hollows is an increasing pressure.

## Takeaway
The species was deliberately introduced to south-western Australia, Tasmania, Kangaroo Island, and New Zealand in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where it remains established but is not native.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kookaburra): Kookaburra — wildlife guide.

## What is a kookaburra?
The laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) belongs to the family Alcedinidae — the kingfishers — and sits within the tree-kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. The genus name Dacelo is an anagram of Alcedo, the Latin word for kingfisher, coined by English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1815. The species was first formally described in 1783 by French naturalist Johann Hermann, who mistakenly attributed the specimen to New Guinea; its specific epithet novaeguineae reflects that geographical error — the bird is not naturally found in New Guinea at all.

At 39–45 cm in length and up to 465 g in weight, the laughing kookaburra dwarfs every other kingfisher on Earth. Its plumage is a patchwork of brown, white, and grey: dark brown upperparts, a cream-white breast, a rufous-orange band across the lower back and tail, and a bold dark-brown mask running from the base of the bill through each eye. Males display small blue patches on the rump — the clearest field mark distinguishing the sexes. The bill itself is formidable: up to 10 cm long, heavy, and laterally compressed to grip slippery or struggling prey. Two subspecies are recognised: the nominate D. n. novaeguineae across most of the range, and the smaller D. n. minor in Cape York Peninsula south to Cooktown.

## Where do kookaburras live?
The laughing kookaburra's native range spans eastern and south-eastern Australia, covering Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, with range extending into parts of Western Australia. It reaches its highest densities in open eucalyptus woodland and dry sclerophyll forest — habitats that offer tall, hollow-bearing trees for nesting alongside open ground where prey can be spotted from a perch. The species is notably adaptable: it thrives equally in rural farmland, river-margin scrub, and well-treed urban parks and gardens, making it one of Australia's most familiar suburban birds.

Kookaburras are entirely sedentary — a breeding pair and its family helpers occupy the same territory year-round, rarely wandering beyond a few kilometres. Territory sizes range from roughly 100 to 400 hectares of woodland, depending on prey availability and tree-hollow density.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, kookaburras were deliberately released into south-western Western Australia, Tasmania, Kangaroo Island, and parts of New Zealand to control snakes. The New Zealand population is restricted to Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf and adjacent North Island mainland, and numbers fewer than 500 birds. These introduced populations are self-sustaining, though ecologists note they compete with native hollow-nesting species in areas where the kookaburra is not indigenous.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kookaburra): Kookaburra — wildlife guide.

## How does the kookaburra hunt and what does it eat?
The kookaburra's hunting method is elegant in its simplicity: it perches motionless on a branch, fence post, or power line, scans the ground below with sharp binocular vision, then drops in a swift, silent dive to pin prey with its bill. It kills prey by seizing it firmly and then thrashing it violently against a hard surface — a branch, rock, or the ground — to stun or destroy it before swallowing it whole or in large pieces.

This smashing technique is especially important when tackling snakes. The kookaburra grips the snake just behind the head, flips it sideways, and whacks it repeatedly until it is immobilised. Although some popular accounts claim kookaburras are immune to snake venom, the evidence is contested; the prevailing view is that their mechanical kill technique — combined with a beak and heavily feathered body that offers little exposed skin to bite — provides the primary protection.

The diet is broad: lizards and skinks make up a substantial proportion; venomous snakes including juvenile brown snakes and tiger snakes are taken opportunistically; large insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, and cicadas are common prey; earthworms, mice, small birds, and nestlings round out the menu. Fish are taken only rarely, despite the kookaburra's kingfisher heritage. Prey is detected by sight, so kookaburras are mostly inactive in low light and heavy rain.

## How do kookaburras breed and raise their young?
The laughing kookaburra is one of Australia's best-studied cooperative breeders. A typical social group consists of a dominant monogamous pair and up to six helper birds — adult offspring from previous breeding seasons, of either sex — that assist with every stage of reproduction. Breeding runs from September through January, coinciding with the Australian spring and summer.

Nests are excavated in natural tree hollows (most commonly in large eucalypts) or in arboreal termite mounds, which provide insulation and structural stability. The female lays two or three white, nearly spherical eggs over several days. Incubation lasts approximately 24–29 days and is shared by the female, the male, and the helpers on a rotating schedule. Chicks hatch altricial — naked and helpless — and are brooded continuously for the first week. All group members bring food to the nest.

Fledglings leave the hollow at about 36 days old but depend on the group for food for several more weeks. A genetic study of 140 nestlings confirmed the mating system to be overwhelmingly monogamous, with no cases of extra-group parentage detected. Helper birds gain breeding experience and eventually inherit or win their own territories. Competition with introduced European starlings and common mynas for suitable hollows is an increasingly recognised pressure, particularly in fragmented suburban landscapes.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kookaburra): Kookaburra — wildlife guide.

## Why is the kookaburra in regional decline despite being common?
The laughing kookaburra is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessed 15 June 2024), with an estimated global population of approximately 65 million individuals across a range of 3.86 million km². Yet the 2024 IUCN assessment records the overall population trend as decreasing, and this trajectory is most visible at finer scales.

Citizen-science monitoring data (Birdata) recorded a fall of roughly 50 percent in kookaburra sightings across south-eastern Australia between 2000 and 2019, with the reporting rate dropping from 25% to 15% over the same period — a signal corroborated by structured surveys in the Murray-Darling Basin and Brigalow Belt, regions that have experienced intensive land clearing for agriculture. Only about 15 percent of Australia's original woodland cover remains, and kookaburras are particularly sensitive to the loss of large, old trees bearing natural hollows. Without these hollows, cooperative breeding groups cannot form or persist.

Urban expansion does not uniformly harm kookaburras: suburbs that retain mature street trees and garden vegetation can actually support healthy densities. However, the removal of hollow-bearing trees during development, combined with nest-site competition from introduced starlings and mynas, erodes breeding success in precisely the peri-urban fringe where woodland clearing is most rapid. Poisoning events and secondary rodenticide exposure also pose localised risks.

Public awareness — knowing why old trees matter, and why removing hollow-bearing eucalypts has consequences beyond timber — is among the most effective tools for slowing regional declines.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run field projects for the laughing kookaburra, and this guide is offered as free educational content to support awareness of Australian wildlife. The kookaburra's story illustrates a broader truth that resonates across all of WARN's work: healthy ecosystems depend on the retention of old-growth habitat features — such as hollow-bearing trees — that take centuries to form and only moments to destroy. Understanding these dependencies anywhere in the world reinforces the conservation case for protecting forests and woodlands wherever WARN does operate.

## Donation hook
Woodland habitats the kookaburra depends on face the same pressures — clearing, fragmentation, and loss of ancient hollow-bearing trees — that threaten wildlife across WARN's partner regions. Every contribution to WARN helps fund the habitat protection work that keeps ecosystems intact for species everywhere.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/kookaburra): Kookaburra — wildlife guide.

## Why do kookaburras laugh?
The laughing call is a territorial declaration, not an expression of amusement. Family groups coordinate their calls at sunrise and sunset to advertise their group's presence and warn neighbouring groups away. Research suggests the level of call coordination within a group reflects social bonds and is thought to strengthen the pair bond between the dominant male and female.

## Is the kookaburra the largest kingfisher in the world?
Yes. The laughing kookaburra is the world's largest kingfisher by body mass, reaching up to 465 g and 45 cm in length. It belongs to the family Alcedinidae along with more than 110 other kingfisher species, most of which are considerably smaller and specialise in catching fish from water — a habit the kookaburra has largely abandoned in favour of terrestrial prey.

## Are kookaburras dangerous to people?
Kookaburras pose no meaningful danger to people. They are bold and inquisitive and will sometimes swoop to snatch food from an unattended plate or barbecue — a habit encouraged by decades of well-intentioned but inadvisable hand-feeding. Experts advise against feeding kookaburras, as human food can cause nutritional deficiencies and make birds dependent on handouts.

## How do kookaburras kill snakes?
A kookaburra grips the snake firmly just behind the head with its heavy bill, then beats it repeatedly against a hard surface — a branch, a rock, or the ground — until the snake is dead or immobilised. This technique destroys the snake's ability to bite back. Whether kookaburras have any physiological immunity to snake venom remains unclear; most researchers attribute their safety to technique rather than toxin resistance.

## What is cooperative breeding in kookaburras?
Cooperative breeding means that birds other than the breeding pair help raise the young. In laughing kookaburras, adult offspring from previous nesting seasons remain with the family group and assist the dominant pair with incubating eggs, feeding chicks, brooding nestlings, and defending the nest territory. Groups of up to eight birds have been recorded at a single nest. The workload is genuinely shared, giving the dominant pair's chicks a significantly higher survival rate than pairs breeding alone.

## What do laughing kookaburras eat?
Laughing Kookaburras eat Reptiles, rodents, large insects, small birds. The laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is the world's largest kingfisher, native to eastern Australia, and is famous for its loud, cackling territorial call often described as human laughter.

## Where do laughing kookaburras live?
Laughing Kookaburras live in Open eucalyptus woodland, farmland, suburban parks. The laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is the world's largest kingfisher, native to eastern Australia, and is famous for its loud, cackling territorial call often described as human laughter.

## How long do laughing kookaburras live?
Laughing Kookaburras typically live 15–20 years. The laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is the world's largest kingfisher, native to eastern Australia, and is famous for its loud, cackling territorial call often described as human laughter. Wild and captive figures can differ; use the sources listed on the guide for the underlying studies.

## How big is a laughing kookaburra?
A Laughing Kookaburra is about 39–45 cm (15–18 in). The laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is the world's largest kingfisher, native to eastern Australia, and is famous for its loud, cackling territorial call often described as human laughter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/roadrunner): Roadrunner — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) is a swift, ground-dwelling cuckoo of the southwestern United States and Mexico, classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List with an estimated 1.4 million mature individuals and an increasing global population trend.

## Introduction
The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) is one of North America's most instantly recognisable birds — a ground-dwelling member of the cuckoo family that sprints across desert scrub at speeds of up to 42 km/h (26 mph), making it the fastest running flying bird on Earth according to Guinness World Records. Stretching up to 62 cm from bill tip to tail, it is the largest cuckoo in the Americas. Its streaked brown-and-white plumage, shaggy erectile crest, and vivid blue-and-orange bare skin behind each eye give it an almost cartoon-like appearance that has made it an emblem of the American Southwest. Despite its fame — partly thanks to animated television — the Greater Roadrunner is a remarkably sophisticated desert survivor, wielding clever thermoregulation tricks, monogamous pair bonds that may last a lifetime, and the audacity to prey on rattlesnakes and scorpions. With roughly 1.4 million mature individuals and an increasing population trend, it currently faces no acute threat of extinction, though regional declines in California point to the pressures of habitat loss.

## Takeaway
The Greater Roadrunner is the largest cuckoo species in the Americas, reaching up to 62 cm in total length.

## Takeaway
It holds the Guinness World Record as the fastest running flying bird, clocked at up to 42 km/h (26 mph) — swift enough to outmanoeuvre and kill rattlesnakes and other venomous prey.

## Takeaway
The species practices sophisticated thermoregulation — sunbathing bare dark back-skin in the morning to warm up passively, and fluttering its throat to cool down in afternoon heat.

## Takeaway
Pairs are largely monogamous and may mate for life, with both parents sharing incubation and chick-rearing duties.

## Takeaway
Despite a globally increasing population of around 1.4 million, regional declines have been documented in California, linked to habitat fragmentation and urbanisation.

## Takeaway
The Greater Roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico and a cultural icon of the American Southwest, yet it remains legally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/roadrunner): Roadrunner — wildlife guide.

## What is a Greater Roadrunner?
The Greater Roadrunner belongs to the family Cuculidae — the cuckoos — making it a distant cousin of the Old World cuckoos famous for brood parasitism, though roadrunners raise their own chicks. Its genus name Geococcyx means 'ground cuckoo', and its species name californianus reflects the part of its range where early naturalists first described it. Standing about 25–30 cm tall and weighing between 221–538 g, it is a bird of surprisingly hefty build for a runner. The plumage is dark brown-black above, heavily streaked with white, while the underparts are pale. A bushy, blue-black crest can be raised or flattened depending on mood. The most striking feature is the postocular streak — a patch of bare skin behind each eye that cycles through blue and orange-red, used in social signalling. The bill is long, slightly decurved, and hooked — ideal for gripping struggling prey. The feet are zygodactyl (two toes pointing forward, two backward), an adaptation shared with other cuckoos that gives the bird a powerful grip on rough desert terrain. Unlike many birds, the Greater Roadrunner prefers running to flying, using its long tail as a rudder when changing direction at speed.

## Where do Greater Roadrunners live?
Greater Roadrunners are birds of Aridoamerica — the arid and semi-arid zone stretching from the southwestern United States deep into Mexico. Their US range spans California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and Arkansas, extending south through much of mainland Mexico. They show a preference for open, low-lying desert scrub, chaparral, and coastal sage scrub, but will also occupy the margins of grasslands, mesquite thickets, and dry woodland edges wherever scattered brush provides cover and open ground allows unobstructed sprinting. Elevationally, they tend to stay below 2,000 m, though they can appear higher in mountainous desert terrain. The species is non-migratory and highly territorial; pairs hold year-round home ranges typically between 40–90 hectares, which they defend with a descending series of low dove-like cooing calls that carry well across flat desert landscape. In recent decades, the species has expanded its range north-eastward into Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, possibly responding to warming temperatures. Conversely, Southern California populations have declined substantially due to urban sprawl consuming coastal sage scrub habitat — the very ecosystem roadrunners need for nesting cover.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/roadrunner): Roadrunner — wildlife guide.

## What does a Greater Roadrunner eat?
The Greater Roadrunner is an opportunistic carnivore with a remarkably catholic diet. Insects — grasshoppers, beetles, and crickets — form the backbone of its daily intake, supplemented by centipedes, scorpions (including venomous species it consumes without ill effect), tarantulas, and black widow spiders. Lizards, small snakes, mice, small birds (including hummingbirds snatched from feeders), and the eggs of ground-nesting species all feature when available. The bird's most celebrated hunting feat is tackling venomous rattlesnakes. Working alone or sometimes cooperatively in pairs, a roadrunner uses speed and agility to repeatedly harass and strike a snake at the back of the head until it is subdued, then beats the carcass against a hard surface to break bones before swallowing it whole or feeding pieces to chicks. Because the prey is often too large to swallow entirely, a roadrunner may stand with a snake dangling from its bill for an hour or more, slowly inching it down as the forward portion digests. In winter, when animal prey becomes scarce, plant material including seeds and small fruits supplements the diet. Water needs are largely met through prey rather than standing water — a critical adaptation in arid habitats where free water is scarce for much of the year.

## How does a Greater Roadrunner breed?
Breeding season in the Greater Roadrunner runs from late March through late summer, allowing time for one or occasionally two clutches in years of abundant prey. Courtship is an elaborate affair: the male pursues the female on foot, pausing to bow, wag his tail, and produce a soft cooing vocalisation. A central element of pair bonding is food gifting — the male approaches his mate with a lizard or snake dangling conspicuously from his bill, transferring it to her as a nuptial gift once she accepts him. Pairs are largely monogamous and are thought to maintain long-term bonds, sometimes mating for life. Both parents construct the nest, a loose platform of sticks, grass, feathers, snakeskin, and occasionally cattle dung, typically placed 0.5–3 m above ground in a cactus, dense shrub, or low tree. Clutches range from 2 to 8 white or pale-yellow eggs. Incubation lasts approximately 20 days and begins with the first eggs laid, meaning hatching is asynchronous and chick sizes within a brood are staggered — an adaptation allowing parents to adjust investment based on food availability. Chicks leave the nest at 18–21 days but receive supplementary feeding from parents for a further 30–40 days as they perfect their hunting skills.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/roadrunner): Roadrunner — wildlife guide.

## What threats does the Greater Roadrunner face?
Globally, the Greater Roadrunner is assessed as Least Concern, with an estimated 1.4 million mature individuals and a population trend described as increasing by BirdLife International (2024). The species has expanded its range northward and eastward in recent decades, a trend possibly linked to milder winters driven by changing climates. However, the headline stability masks significant regional pressure. In Southern California — historically important roadrunner territory — numbers have dropped sharply over several decades as coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitat have been consumed by urban and agricultural development. Habitat fragmentation reduces the large home ranges roadrunners need, and road mortality from vehicles is an under-studied but documented mortality source. Historical persecution by ranchers who incorrectly believed roadrunners to be major predators of game bird chicks reduced populations in parts of Texas and Oklahoma, and illegal shooting persists in some areas despite the bird being fully protected under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Pesticide use in agricultural settings can reduce invertebrate prey abundance and expose roadrunners to secondary poisoning. Feral cats and other introduced predators threaten ground-nesting pairs. Climate-driven drying of desert habitats may eventually reduce the productivity of scrub ecosystems on which the species depends, though this effect has not yet translated into measurable national-level declines.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run projects focused on the Greater Roadrunner — the species is endemic to North America, outside WARN's active conservation network. This guide is offered as free educational content because public understanding of how desert ecosystems function underpins broader conservation awareness worldwide. Every person who learns why an arid scrubland matters to a roadrunner is better equipped to appreciate why intact habitats on every continent deserve protection — including the tropical habitats where WARN works every day.

## Donation hook
Desert ecosystems across the American Southwest and the tropics where WARN works are increasingly fragmented by development and climate stress. Supporting WARN helps protect the scrub and woodland habitats that countless species — from roadrunners in North America to the wildlife WARN rescues and rehabilitates in its partner countries — depend on for survival.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/roadrunner): Roadrunner — wildlife guide.

## How fast can a Greater Roadrunner run?
Greater Roadrunners hold the Guinness World Record as the fastest running flying bird, clocked at up to 42 km/h (26 mph) over short distances. They can sustain around 27–32 km/h (17–20 mph) for longer chases — swift enough to run down lizards, small snakes, and large insects on open ground.

## Do Greater Roadrunners actually fly?
Yes, but reluctantly. Roadrunners are capable of short bursts of flight — typically to escape a predator or reach a low perch — but they strongly prefer running. Their wings are relatively small for their body size and their leg muscles are exceptionally developed, making the ground their most efficient environment.

## Can roadrunners really kill rattlesnakes?
Yes. Greater Roadrunners are documented predators of rattlesnakes, including juveniles and occasionally adults. Using speed and agility, the bird repeatedly strikes the snake at the back of the head while dodging counter-strikes, then beats the prey against a rock to subdue it. In some accounts, pairs cooperate — one distracting while the other strikes.

## Are Greater Roadrunners endangered?
No. The Greater Roadrunner is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, with a population estimated at approximately 1.4 million mature individuals and an increasing global trend. However, regional declines in California due to habitat loss warrant localised monitoring.

## What is the Greater Roadrunner's relationship to the cartoon character?
The Looney Tunes 'Road Runner' character was inspired by the real Greater Roadrunner's legendary speed and its arid desert habitat. The cartoon exaggerates many traits for comic effect, but the real bird is genuinely fast, genuinely a desert dweller, and genuinely capable of outrunning many of the predators it encounters.

## What do greater roadrunners eat?
Greater Roadrunners eat Carnivore — insects, lizards, snakes, scorpions, small mammals, birds. The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) is a swift, ground-dwelling cuckoo of the southwestern United States and Mexico, classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List with an estimated 1.4 million mature individuals and an increasing global population trend.

## Where do greater roadrunners live?
Greater Roadrunners live in Southwestern United States, Mexico. The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) is a swift, ground-dwelling cuckoo of the southwestern United States and Mexico, classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List with an estimated 1.4 million mature individuals and an increasing global population trend.

## How long do greater roadrunners live?
Greater Roadrunners typically live 7–8 years (wild); up to 9 years documented in captivity. The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) is a swift, ground-dwelling cuckoo of the southwestern United States and Mexico, classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List with an estimated 1.4 million mature individuals and an increasing global population trend. Wild and captive figures can differ; use the sources listed on the guide for the underlying studies.

## How big is a greater roadrunner?
A Greater Roadrunner is about 52–62 cm (20–24 in). The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) is a swift, ground-dwelling cuckoo of the southwestern United States and Mexico, classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List with an estimated 1.4 million mature individuals and an increasing global population trend.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/crane): Crane — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Cranes are a family (Gruidae) of 15 large, long-lived wading birds found on every continent except South America and Antarctica; the family spans conservation statuses from Least Concern (Common Crane, over 700,000 birds) to Critically Endangered (Siberian Crane, roughly 6,500–7,000 birds), making them collectively one of the most threatened bird groups in the world.

## Introduction
Cranes are among the oldest birds on Earth, with fossils tracing family Gruidae back 40–60 million years to the Eocene epoch. Today 15 species survive, standing tall on almost every continent except South America and Antarctica. These large, long-legged wading birds are instantly recognisable: a trumpet call that carries kilometres, a neck held straight in flight, and an elaborate leaping courtship dance that pairs perform together for life. Cranes inhabit wetlands, grasslands, and shallow marshes from the Arctic tundra to the tropics. They migrate enormous distances — some Demoiselle Cranes cross the Himalayas at altitudes above 8,000 metres — and have woven themselves into the mythology of cultures from Japan to West Africa. Yet 11 of the 15 species are now threatened or near-threatened, making cranes one of the most conservation-dependent bird families on the planet.

## Takeaway
Of 15 crane species, 11 are threatened or near-threatened — the highest proportion of any major bird family.

## Takeaway
The Siberian Crane is the only crane rated Critically Endangered; its eastern population has recovered from under 3,500 birds in 2015 to nearly 7,000 by 2024 thanks to flyway-wide conservation.

## Takeaway
The Sarus Crane is the world's tallest flying bird, reaching 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) and weighing up to 12 kg.

## Takeaway
Many cranes are renowned for elaborate, synchronised courtship dances — leaping, bowing, and wing-spreading — that reinforce lifelong pair bonds.

## Takeaway
Cranes coil an elongated trachea inside the sternum to amplify their calls, which can carry several kilometres across open wetlands.

## Takeaway
Wetland drainage, agricultural conversion, power-line collisions, and illegal hunting remain the chief threats driving crane population declines.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/crane): Crane — wildlife guide.

## What is a crane and what makes it different from other large wading birds?
Cranes belong to the family Gruidae, order Gruiformes, and are among the most ancient bird lineages still alive. Unlike herons, which retract their necks into an S-curve during flight, cranes hold the neck straight and trail their long legs behind — a silhouette unmistakable at any distance. The 15 living species split into two subfamilies: the two crowned cranes (Balearicinae) of sub-Saharan Africa, which retain a primitive perching ability and roost in trees; and the 13 typical cranes (Gruinae), distributed across Eurasia, North America, Africa, and Australia. Typical cranes possess a remarkable anatomical adaptation: a coiled trachea that can reach up to 1.5 metres in length, looping inside the keeled sternum and functioning as a resonating chamber. This structure gives cranes their penetrating, bugling calls — able to carry several kilometres — used to maintain pair contact across wide marshes, warn rivals, and coordinate migratory flocks. Cranes range enormously in size: the petite Demoiselle Crane stands roughly 90 cm, while the Sarus Crane of South and Southeast Asia reaches 1.8 m tall and holds the record as the world's tallest flying bird. All species share long legs, long necks, and broad, rounded wings built for sustained soaring on thermals during migration.

## Where do cranes live and how far do they migrate?
Cranes inhabit a wide variety of open, often waterlogged landscapes — shallow freshwater marshes, sedge bogs, wet grasslands, river floodplains, rice paddies, and Arctic tundra. Breeding pairs need undisturbed wetland edges to nest on the ground, while wintering flocks can use arable farmland for foraging. The family's global range covers every continent except South America and Antarctica, with the greatest species diversity in Asia: East Asia alone hosts eight of the 15 species. Migration is a defining feature of the group. Common Cranes (Grus grus) breed across boreal Eurasia from Scandinavia to Siberia and funnel south through central Europe and Central Asia to winter in Spain, north Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, and India. Some populations follow the Indus Flyway through Pakistan's Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Demoiselle Cranes cross the Himalayas at over 8,000 metres, one of the highest migrations of any bird. Siberian Cranes travel up to 5,000 km from Siberian breeding grounds to winter at China's vast Poyang Lake. Migration routes are learned, not innate — juvenile cranes follow experienced adults, and flocks can shift to new corridors in response to habitat change, a flexibility that proves both an asset and a vulnerability when key stopover wetlands are drained.