Animalia Life
Turnix hottentotta
TAXONOMY
Turnix hottentottus Temminck, 1815, Cape of Good Hope.
Two subspecies recognized. A member of the T. sylvatica–T.
maculosa group.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Dwarf, small, African, Natal, Hottentott or South
African buttonquail; French: Turnix hottentot; German: Hottentottenlaufhьhnchen;
Spanish: Torillo Hotentote.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
5.5–5.9 in (14–15 cm); male 1.4 oz (40 g), female 2–2.2 oz
(58–62 g). Small dark buttonquail with reddish face and breast,
barring on sides, spots on flanks, slender bill, and pale eyes.
Female slightly larger and redder. Juvenile smaller, less red,
and more heavily marked.
DISTRIBUTION
T.h. hottentotta: Southern South Africa; T.h. nana: Sub-Saharan
Africa from Nigeria eastward to Uganda and Kenya, south to
Angola, and eastern South Africa.
HABITAT
Grassland, savanna, farmland, low herbage, scrub, and edges of
thickets.
BEHAVIOR
Terrestrial, diurnal, and partly nocturnal. Migrates at night.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Eats seeds of grasses and low herbage; also eats invertebrates,
including insects and larvae, obtained from the ground.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Lays in most months of the year but locally during or at the end
of the rainy season. Females are possibly polyandrous. Clutch
usually three eggs, though up to six. Incubation 12–14 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. Uncommon to locally common in most of
range but very rare or possibly extinct in South Africa, owing
to impacts of pastoral industry.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Hunted for food. Rare in aviculture.
Other popular Animals
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