Helmeted Guineafowl  (Numida meleagris)

Global Status

IUCN Data (Global)

IUCN 2024. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2024-1 (www)

Assessment year: 2018

Assessment Citation

BirdLife International 2018. Numida meleagris. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22679555A132052202. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22679555A132052202.en. Accessed on 22 December 2024.

Geographic range:

Numida meleagris has a native range covering much of Africa, encompassing Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. The subspecies sabyi is probably now extinct in Morocco, although there is a possibility that it survives in the Middle Atlas (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Rationale:

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Trend justification:

The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.