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African Jacana

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

                 iAfrican Jacana

                             Conservation status

   Least Concern (LC)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Charadriiformes
   Family:  Jacanidae
   Genus:   Actophilornis
   Species: A. africana

                                Binomial name

   Actophilornis africana
   ( Gmelin, 1789)

   The African Jacana (Actophilornis africana) is a jacana. The jacanas
   are a group of waders in the family Charadriidae, which are
   identifiable by their huge feet and claws which enable them to walk on
   floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred
   habitat. They are found worldwide within the tropical zone.

   African Jacana breeds throughout sub-Saharan Africa. It is sedentary
   apart from seasonal dispersion. It lays four black-marked brown eggs in
   a floating nest. The males, as in some other wader families like the
   phalaropes, take responsibility for incubation.

   These are conspicuous and unmistakable birds. They are 30cm long, but
   the females are larger than the males. They have chestnut upperparts
   with black wingtips, rear neck and eyestripe. The underparts are white,
   with a chestnut belly patch in adult birds. The blue bill extends up as
   a coot-like head shield, and the legs and very long toes are grey.

   The African Jacana's food is insects and other invertebrates picked
   from the floating vegetation or the water’s surface.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Jacana"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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