Mount Cameroon Francolin

The Cameroon Francolin ( Francolinus camerunensis ) is a bird of the genus Frankoline from the family of pheasant -like.

Features

The Cameroon francolin is about 33 cm long, his beak, his legs and feet and the eyes are bright red. The male has gray on the lower body and in warm shades of brown on the upper body plumage. The female has a brown - speckled lower body to the upper body and thick stripes. The young birds are reminiscent of the female, but her lower body is not speckled, but striped. The voice of Cameroon francolin is very distinctive, his calls are made from a very high triple pipes.

Dissemination

The Cameroon francolin is endemic only in Cameroon, where he lives exclusively on the south-eastern and north-eastern slopes of Mount Cameroon. Lately only sporadically couple were spotted. With approximately 1000-2499 live specimens since 1988, he is already considered an endangered species

Way of life

The Cameroon francolin inhabits dense undergrowth in primary forests and glades at an altitude of 850-2100 m. But he seems to accept and secondary forests as a habitat and was observed even in caused by forest fires savannah areas. It feeds on berries, grass seeds and insects and breeds during the dry season. The eggs are laid between October and December.

During intermittent bush and forest fires are a natural hazard on Mount Cameroon and about escape every 20 years, lava flows, especially the increasingly frequent slash and burn of the Prairie is the biggest threat to this rare species assessment includes both the natural habitat as well as the eggs and young birds destroyed. The hunting threatens the bird. The destruction of its habitat is much more weighty: Forest fires occur more frequently at the south-eastern slopes on, clearings fall mainly on the east side of the mountain around and take away his natural refuges.