The Andaman crake (''Rallina canningi'') is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Rallidae The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, althoug ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...

of the eastern

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

Taxonomy and systematics

It was first described as the Andaman banded crake ''Euryzona canningi'' by Blyth in the 1863 issue of the journal, ''

Ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

''. Later, it was treated as Andamaneese banded crake ''Rallina canningi'' by

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

in 1929. Subsequently, Ripley and

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

retained Baker's scientific name for the species, while reverting to Blyth's common name.

Description

This is the largest Rallina, measuring about 34 cm in length. It has a glossy chestnut plumage, extensive bold barring on underparts, unbarred undertail-coverts, relatively bright apple-green bill and relatively long and fluffy tail; legs and feet are olive-green. It also has pale barring on wings confined to outer

primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

and greater and medium coverts. Juveniles are duller and less prominently barred.BLI (2008) Other similar looking crakes include other '' Rallina'' and

ruddy-breasted crake The ruddy-breasted crake (''Zapornia fusca''), or ruddy crake, is a waterbird in the rail and crake family Rallidae. Its breeding habitat is swamps and similar wet areas across South Asia from the Indian subcontinent east to south China, Japa ...

''Porzana fusca''. They are smaller and do not have green bill and legs. Immature birds are duller overall with the barred areas being dark grey-brown with a chestnut tinge, narrowly banded and streaked dirty white. Juvenile birds are paler than adult. Voice is a deep croak. It utters a sharp click as an alarm call.

Distribution and habitat

Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

land inside subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. It is known from North, Middle and South Andaman islands and may occur on other islands such as Great Coco or middle Coco Islands. It was formerly classified as

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

, due to the lack of reliable information on its status. Later studies showed it to be fairly common in suitable habitat. Consequently, it has been listed at

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

status in 2017. BirdLife International estimates the population to range between 10,000 and 25,000 individuals.

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

It breeds between June and August. It nests at the bottom of large trees with buttresses or under tangled undergrowth in forests. In one study, the species preferred trees such as ''

Terminalia Terminalia may refer to: * Terminalia (festival), a Roman festival to the god of boundaries Terminus * ''Terminalia'' (plant), a tree genus * Terminalia (insect anatomy), the terminal region of the abdomen in insects * ''Polyscias terminalia'', a ...

'', ''

Tetrameles nudiflora ''Tetrameles'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Tetramelaceae with one species, ''Tetrameles nudiflora''. It grows as a large deciduous tree and is found across southern Asia from India through southeast Asia, Malesia, and into northe ...

'' or ''

Pterocarpus ''Pterocarpus'' is a pantropical genus of trees in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Pterocarpus'' clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of ''Pterocarpus'' ...

'', possibly near waterbodies. Its eggs are similar to those of the banded crake but larger, whiter and more glossy. Both sexes share in incubation. According to

, the eggs are about .

Food and feeding

Much like other crakes, it feeds on small fish, molluscs, worms and insects (beetles, grasshoppers and caterpillars). Large grasshoppers shaken about and battered before swallowing.

Threats to survival

In the 1980s, the crake was considered to be quite common on the islands; over 80 birds were snared in a square mile. It is much rare now even though there are extensive forests in the islands. Introduced predators may also pose a risk to the birds' population.

Footnotes

References

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

(BLI) (2008)
2008 IUCN Redlist status changes
. Retrieved 23 May 2008. {{Taxonbar, from=Q760447 Andaman crake Andaman crake Birds of the Andaman Islands Andaman crake Andaman crake Taxonomy articles created by Polbot