Wattled Crane Conservation Status Downlisted in South Africa
CONTACT: Jodi Legge, Vice President of External affairs, 608-356-9462 Ext. 120,
South Africa – March 10, 2025 – Concerted and targeted conservation efforts by the International Crane Foundation and Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) partnership, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW), other NGOs and farmers and landowners across the Drakensberg, South Africa, have delivered another success—the downlisting of the Wattled Crane from Critically Endangered to Endangered.
The regional downlisting is a remarkable conservation success and will be published in the latest edition of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species at the end of May 2025. Wattled Cranes (Bugeranus carunculatus) were listed as regionally Critically Endangered in 2015, with only 267 individuals recorded in the KwaZulu-Natal aerial survey of that year. This aerial survey has been conducted for 32 years in partnership with Eskom and EKZNW, as KwaZulu-Natal is the stronghold for the species in South Africa.
A regional downlisting means that in South Africa, the Wattled Crane is no longer declining, but the population remains small and vulnerable to threats, with an estimated population of only 304 being counted in 2024. Despite this positive trend in KwaZulu-Natal, the global population (including, but not limited to, South Africa) remains on the decline and urgent conservation attention is required to safeguard populations outside of KwaZulu-Natal.
The partnership began research and conservation action for Africa’s crane species in 1994. Efforts to date have included monitoring, research to better understand their movement and ecological needs, power line investigations and mitigation in partnership with Eskom, supporting farmers and landowners to protect their breeding sites, conservation of key areas through the promotion of sustainable management practices, extensive education with landowners and rural communities, as well as understanding the crane trade and inclusion of key crane areas into the Biodiversity Stewardship Program.
More recently, with improved technologies such as transmitters that can be placed on the Wattled Cranes, the Foundation and partners are deepening our understanding of the nonbreeding species that do not hold territories, to understand their movement patterns and how they use the landscape differently to breeding birds. In addition, we are using drone mapping to enhance our grasp of the hydrogeomorphology characterizations of wetlands used by Wattled Cranes. This information will be vital to rehabilitating wetlands to expand the habitat utilized by these unique birds, enabling the species to expand outside its current range.
Our work in Mpumalanga will also reveal critical information on the potential connectivity between populations in the different provinces. Work will continue with farmers to maintain the conservation of the species in its core range and thus protect the landscape through Biodiversity Stewardship Schemes. This will be supported by long-term funding through carbon trading in the grasslands where they live.
The International Crane Foundation and EWT expressed its appreciation to its funder and donors, especially the Dohmen Family Fund, Rand Merchant Bank and Eskom, who have been significant contributors over the last 30 years.
Photo: A Wattled Crane adult and chick on their next by Daniel Dolpire
