Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Galliformes > Phasianidae > Francolinus > Francolinus capensis

Francolinus capensis (Cape Francolin)

Synonyms: Pternistis capensis; Tetrao capensis (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

The Cape spurfowl, or Cape francolin (Pternistis capensis) is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. This francolin is endemic to the southwestern Cape of South Africa. The Cape francolin is a bird of scrubby open areas, preferably close to running water. Its nest is a grass-lined scrape under a bush, and six to eight eggs are laid (but sometimes two females will lay in one nest). This species can become very tame if disturbance is limited, and will feed in gardens, by roadsides, or with farmyard chickens. It will run rather than fly if disturbed, but even while quite small, just a few weeks old, it flies readily and strongly if startled or pressed.
View Wikipedia Record: Francolinus capensis

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
1
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
11
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 3.36995
EDGE Score: 1.47475
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  1.437 lbs (652 g)
Birth Weight [2]  33 grams
Female Weight [4]  1.213 lbs (550 g)
Male Weight [4]  1.676 lbs (760 g)
Weight Dimorphism [4]  38.2 %
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Frugivore, Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Fruit [3]  20 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  30 %
Diet - Plants [3]  30 %
Diet - Seeds [3]  20 %
Forages - Ground [3]  100 %
Clutch Size [5]  7
Clutches / Year [1]  1
Incubation [4]  23 days
Snout to Vent Length [1]  16 inches (41 cm)

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Lowland fynbos and renosterveld South Africa Afrotropic Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub
Montane fynbos and renosterveld South Africa Afrotropic Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub

Protected Areas

Important Bird Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Cape Floristic Region South Africa Yes

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 5Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0