Bustard

{{Short description|Family of birds}} {{Distinguish|Bastard (disambiguation){{!}}bastard}} {{Use British English|date=March 2024}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Bustards | fossil_range = Miocene–Holocene, {{fossilrange|13|0}} | image = Kori_Bustard_Bushes_2019-07-26.jpg | image_upright = 1.2 | image_caption = Kori bustard | display_parents = 2 | parent_authority = Wagler, 1830 | taxon = Otididae | authority = Rafinesque, 1815 | subdivision_ranks = General | subdivision = * ''Lissotis'' * ''Ardeotis'' * ''Neotis'' * ''Tetrax'' * ''Otis'' * ''Chlamydotis'' * ''Houbaropsis'' * ''Sypheotides'' * ''Lophotis'' * ''Eupodotis'' * ''Afrotis'' | synonyms = * Gryzajidae Brodkorb 1967 }}

'''Bustards''', including '''floricans''' and '''korhaans''', are large, terrestrial birds living mainly in dry grassland areas and in steppe regions. They range in length from {{convert|40|to|150|cm|in|abbr=on}}. They make up the family '''Otididae''' ({{IPAc-en|oʊ|ˈ|t|ɪ|d|ᵻ|d|iː}}, formerly known as '''Otidae''').<ref name="IOC">{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | year=2019 | title=Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse | work=World Bird List Version 9.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/turacos/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=26 June 2019}}</ref>

Bustards are omnivorous and opportunistic, eating leaves, buds, seeds, fruit, small vertebrates, and invertebrates.<ref name="HBW3">del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). (1996) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 3: Hoatzin to Auks''. Lynx Edicions. {{ISBN|84-87334-20-2}}</ref> There are 26 species currently recognised.

== Etymology == The word ''bustard'' comes from the Old French {{Lang|fro|bistarda}} and some other languages: {{Lang|pt|abetarda}} (Portuguese), {{Lang|gl|abetarda}} (Galician), {{Lang|es|avutarda}} (Spanish) used for the great bustard. The naturalist William Turner listed the English spelling "bustard" and "bistard" in 1544.<ref>{{cite book | last=Turner | first=William |author-link= William Turner (naturalist) | translator=Evans, A.H. | translator-link=Arthur Humble Evans | year=1903 | orig-date=1544 | title=Turner on birds: a short and succinct history of the principal birds noticed by Pliny and Aristotle first published by Doctor William Turner, 1544 | publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge | language=Latin, English | url=https://archive.org/details/turneronbirdssho00turn/page/n19/mode/2up | pages=xvi, 130–131}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Turner |first=William |author-link= William Turner (naturalist) | year=1544 | title=Avium praecipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia |location=Cambridge |publisher=Ioan. Gymnicus | language=Latin | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s106AAAAcAAJ&pg=PP136 |pages=72–73}}</ref>

All of the common names above are derived from Latin {{Lang|la|avis tarda}} or {{Lang|la|aves tardas}} given by Pliny the Elder,<ref name=pliny>{{ cite book | translator=Rachham, H. | date=1967 | title=Pliny Natural History III Libri VIII-XI | series=The Loeb Classical Library | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher=Harvard University Press | pages=328–329 | url=https://archive.org/details/L353PlinyNaturalHistoryIII811/page/n343/mode/2up}}</ref>{{efn|"proximae iis sunt quas Hispania aves tardas appellat, Graecia ωτιδος damnatas in cibis; emissa enim ossibus medulla odoris taedium extemplo sequitur." [Next to these are the birds that Spain calls ''tardae'' and Greece ''otides'', which are condemned as an article of diet, because when the marrow is drained out of their bones a disgusting smell at once follows.]<ref name=pliny/>}} these names were mentioned by the Pierre Belon in 1555 and Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1600.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Belon | first=Pierre | author-link=Pierre Belon | date=1555 | title=L'histoire de la natvre des oyseavx : avec levrs descriptions, & naïfs portraicts retirez du natvrel, escrite en sept livres | language=French | location=Paris | publisher=Gilles Corrozet | pages=235–237 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43989802}}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | last=Aldrovandi| first=Ulisse | author-link=Ulisse Aldrovandi | year=1637 | orig-date=1600 | title=Vlyssis Aldrovandi philosophi ac medici Bononiensis historiam naturalem in gymnasio Bononiensi profitentis, Ornithologiae | volume=2 | language=Latin | location=Bononiae (Bologna, Italy) | publisher=Apud Nicolaum Tebaldinum | pages=85 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53874775}}</ref> The word ''tarda'' comes from {{Lang|la|tardus}} in Latin meaning "slow" and "deliberate",<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=tardus |title=tardus |last1= Lewis |first1= Charlton T. |last2= Short |first2= Charles |dictionary= A Latin Dictionary |publisher= Perseus Digital Library |date = 1879}}</ref> which is apt to describe the typical walking style of the species.<ref name=eol>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://eol.org/pages/915364/overview |title=Great Bustard (Otis tarda) – Information on Great Bustard | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Life |access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref>

===Floricans=== Some Indian bustards are also called floricans. The origin of the name is unclear. Thomas C. Jerdon writes in ''The Birds of India'' (1862):

{{Blockquote|I have not been able to trace the origin of the Anglo-Indian word ''Florikin'', but was once informed that the Little Bustard in Europe was sometimes called Flanderkin. Latham gives the word ''Flercher'' as an English name, and this, apparently, has the same origin as Florikin.|Jerdon's ''Birds of India'', 2nd ed. ii. 625.}}

The Hobson-Jobson dictionary, however, casts doubt on this theory stating that

{{Blockquote|We doubt if Jerdon has here understood Latham correctly. What Latham writes is, in describing the Passarage Bustard, which, he says, is the size of the Little Bustard: ''Inhabits India. Called Passarage Plover. ... I find that it is known in India by the name of Oorail; by some of the English called Flercher.'' (Suppt. to Gen. Synopsis of Birds, 1787, 229). Here we understand ''the English'' to be the English in India, and Flercher to be a clerical error for some form of ''floriken.''}}

== Taxonomy == {{See also|List of bustards}} The family Otididae was introduced (as Otidia) by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Rafinesque | first=Constantine Samuel | author-link=Constantine Samuel Rafinesque | year=1815 | title=Analyse de la nature ou, Tableau de l'univers et des corps organisés | volume=1815 | publisher=Self-published | place=Palermo | language=fr | page=70 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48310148}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Bock | first=Walter J. | year=1994 | title=History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names | series=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume= 222 | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | place=New York | pages=137, 252 | hdl=2246/830}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.paleofile.com/ | title=Taxonomic lists- Aves | access-date=30 December 2015}}</ref> ''Otididae'' and before that ''Otidae'' come from the genus ''Otis'' given to the great bustard by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' in 1758,<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=154 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727061}}</ref> it comes from the Greek word {{lang|el|ὠτίς}} ''ōtis''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jobling |first=James A. |year=2010 |title=Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |location=London, UK |publisher=Christopher Helm |isbn=978-1-4081-3326-2 |pages=286 |oclc=659731768}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=w)ti/s |title=ὠτίς |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott|first2=Robert |work=A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |date= 1940}}</ref>

{{cladogram|align=left|title=Phylogeny of Otididae<ref name="Boyd">{{cite web| publisher=John Boyd's website |last=Boyd|first=John|year=2007|title=Otididae |url=http://jboyd.net/Taxo/Otididae.pdf |access-date= 30 December 2015}}</ref> |{{clade|style=font-size:90%;line-height:80%;width:500px |1={{Clade |label1=''Lissotis'' |1={{Clade |1=''L. hartlaubii'' (Hartlaub's bustard) |2=''L. melanogaster'' (black-bellied bustard) }} |2={{Clade |label1=''Ardeotis'' |1={{Clade |1=''A. nuba'' (Nubian bustard) |2={{Clade |1=''A. ludwigii'' (Ludwig's bustard) |2=''A. denhami'' (Denham's bustard) |3={{Clade |1=''A. heuglinii'' (Heuglin's bustard) |2={{Clade |1=''A. arabs'' (Arabian bustard) |2={{Clade |1=''A. kori'' (Kori bustard) |2={{Clade |1=''A. nigriceps'' (Great Indian bustard) |2=''A. australis'' (Australian bustard) }} }} }} }} }} }} |2={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=''Tetrax tetrax'' (little bustard) |2={{Clade |1=''Otis tarda'' (great bustard) |label2=''Chlamydotis'' |2={{Clade |1=''C. macqueenii'' (MacQueen's bustard) |2=''C. undulata'' (houbara bustard) }} }} }} |2={{Clade |1={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=''Sypheotides indicus'' (lesser florican) |2=''Houbaropsis bengalensis'' (Bengal florican) }} |label2=''Lophotis'' |2={{Clade |1=''L. ruficrista'' (red-crested bustard) |2={{Clade |1=''L. savilei'' (Savile's bustard) |2=''L. gindiana'' (buff-crested bustard) }} }} }} |2={{Clade |label1=''Heterotetrax'' |1={{Clade |1=''H. humilis'' (little brown bustard) |2={{Clade |1=''H. rueppelii'' (Rüppell's korhaan) |2=''H. vigorsii'' (karoo korhaan) }} }} |2={{Clade |label1=''Afrotis'' |1={{Clade |1=''A. afra'' (southern black korhaan) |2=''A. afraoides'' (northern black korhaan) }} |label2=''Eupodotis'' |2={{Clade |1=''E. senegalensis'' (white-bellied bustard) |2=''E. caerulescens'' (blue korhaan) }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

{| class="wikitable" | colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | '''Family Otididae'''<ref>{{cite web |website=IOC World Bird List |version=v13.2 |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/turacos/ |title=Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse |access-date=21 October 2023}}</ref>{{citation needed |reason=A reference is needed for the extinct genera and species. The IOC list only deals with extant species. |date=October 2023}} |- ! Image !! Genus !! Living species |- |180px |''Lissotis'' Reichenbach 1848 | * Hartlaub's bustard, ''Lissotis hartlaubii'' (Heuglin 1863) * Black-bellied bustard, ''Lissotis melanogaster'' (Rüppell 1835) ** ''L. m. notophila'' Oberholser 1905 ** ''L. m. melanogaster'' (Rüppell 1835) |- |180px |''Neotis'' Sharpe 1893 | * Denham's bustard, ''Neotis denhami'' (Children & Vigors, 1826) ** ''N. d. denhami'' (Denham's bustard) (Children & Vigors, 1826) ** ''N. d. jacksoni'' (Jackson's bustard) Bannerman, 1930 ** ''N. d. stanleyi'' (Stanley bustard) (Gray, 1831) * Heuglin's bustard, ''Neotis heuglinii'' (Hartlaub, 1859) * Ludwig's bustard, ''Neotis ludwigii'' (Rüppell, 1837) * Nubian bustard, ''Neotis nuba'' (Cretzschmar, 1826) |- |180px |''Ardeotis'' Le Maout 1853 | * Arabian bustard, ''Ardeotis arabs'' (Linnaeus 1758) ** ''A. a. lynesi'' (Bannerman 1930) (Moroccan bustard) ** ''A. a. stieberi'' (Neumann 1907) (great Arabian bustard) ** ''A. a. arabs'' (Linnaeus 1758) ** ''A. a. butleri'' (Bannerman 1930) (Sudan bustard) * Australian bustard, ''Ardeotis australis'' (Gray 1829) * Great Indian bustard, ''Ardeotis nigriceps'' (Vigors 1831) * Kori bustard, ''Ardeotis kori'' (Burchell 1822) ** ''A. k. struthiunculus'' (Neumann 1907) (northern Kori bustard) ** ''A. k. kori'' (Burchell 1822) (southern Kori bustard) |- |180px |''Tetrax'' Forster 1817 | * †''T. paratetrax'' (Bocheński & Kuročkin 1987) * Little bustard, ''Tetrax tetrax'' (Linnaeus 1758) Forster 1817 |- |180px |''Otis'' Linnaeus 1758 | *†''O. bessarabicus'' Kessler & Gal 1996 * †''O. hellenica'' Boev, Lazaridis & Tsoukala 2014 * Great bustard, ''Otis tarda'' Linnaeus 1758 ** ''O. t. tarda'' Linnaeus 1758 (western great bustard) ** ''O. t. dybowskii'' Taczanowski 1874 (eastern great bustard) |- |180px |''Chlamydotis'' Lesson 1839 | * †''C. affinis'' (Lydekker 1891a) Brodkorb 1967 * †''C. mesetaria'' Sánchez Marco 1990 * MacQueen's bustard, ''Chlamydotis macqueenii'' (Gray 1832)<ref>MacQueen's bustard has recently been split from the houbara bustard as a full species.</ref> * Houbara bustard, ''Chlamydotis undulata'' (Jacquin 1784) ** ''C. u. fuertaventurae'' (Rothschild & Hartert 1894) (Canary Islands houbara bustard) ** ''C. u. undulata'' (Jacquin 1784) (North African houbara bustard) |- |180px |''Houbaropsis'' Sharpe 1893 | * Bengal florican, ''Houbaropsis bengalensis'' (Statius Müller 1776) Sharpe 1893 ** ''H. b. bengalensis'' (Statius Müller 1776) Sharpe 1893 ** ''H. b. blandini'' Delacour 1928 |- |180px |''Sypheotides'' Lesson 1839 | * Lesser florican, ''Sypheotides indicus'' (Miller 1782) Lesson 1839 |- |180px |''Lophotis'' Reichenbach 1848 | * Red-crested korhaan, ''Lophotis ruficrista'' (Smith 1836) * Savile's bustard, ''Lophotis savilei'' Lynes 1920 * Buff-crested bustard, ''Lophotis gindiana'' (Oustalet 1881) |- |180px |''Heterotetrax'' Sharpe 1894 | * Little brown bustard, ''Heterotetrax humilis'' (Blyth 1855) * Karoo korhaan, ''Heterotetrax vigorsii'' (Smith 1831) ** ''H. v. namaqua'' (Roberts 1932) ** ''H. v. vigorsii'' (Smith 1831) * Rüppell's korhaan, ''Heterotetrax rueppelii'' (Wahlberg 1856) ** ''H. r. fitzsimonsi'' (Roberts 1937) ** ''H. r. rueppelii'' (Wahlberg 1856) |- |180px |''Eupodotis'' Lesson 1839 | * Blue korhaan, ''Eupodotis caerulescens'' (Vieillot 1820) * White-bellied bustard, ''Eupodotis senegalensis'' (Vieillot 1821) ** ''E. s. barrowii'' (Gray 1829) (Barrow's/southern white-bellied bustard) ** ''E. s. canicollis'' (Reichenow 1881) (Somali white-bellied knorhaan) ** ''E. s. erlangeri'' (Reichenow 1905) ** ''E. s. mackenziei'' White 1945 ** ''E. s. senegalensis'' (Vieillot 1821) (Senegal bustard) |- |180px |''Afrotis'' Gray 1855 | * Southern black korhaan, ''Afrotis afra'' (Linnaeus 1758) * Northern black korhaan, ''Afrotis afraoides'' (Smith 1831) ** ''A. a. etoschae'' (Grote 1922) ** ''A. a. damarensis'' Roberts 1926 ** ''A. a. afraoides'' (Smith 1831) |- |}

; Extinct genera * Genus †''Gryzaja'' Zubareva 1939 ** †''Gryzaja odessana'' Zubareva 1939 * Genus †''Ioriotis'' Burchak-Abramovich & Vekua 1981 ** †''Ioriotis gabunii'' Burchak-Abramovich & Vekua 1981 * Genus †''Miootis'' Umanskaya 1979 ** †''Miootis compactus'' Umanskaya 1979 * Genus †''Pleotis'' Hou 1982 ** †''Pleotis liui'' Hou 1982

== Description == Bustards are all fairly large with the two largest species, the kori bustard (''Ardeotis kori'') and the great bustard (''Otis tarda''), being frequently cited as the world's heaviest flying birds. In both the largest species, large males exceed a weight of {{convert|20|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, weigh around {{convert|13.5|kg|lb|abbr=on}} on average and can attain a total length of {{convert|150|cm|in|abbr=on}}. The smallest species is the little brown bustard (''Eupodotis humilis''), which is around {{convert|40|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and weighs around {{convert|600|g|lb|abbr=on}} on average. In most bustards, males are substantially larger than females, often about 30% longer and sometimes more than twice the weight. They are among the most sexually dimorphic groups of birds. In only the floricans is the sexual dimorphism the reverse, with the adult female being slightly larger and heavier than the male.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

The wings have 10 primaries and 16–24 secondary feathers. There are 18–20 feathers in the tail. The plumage is predominantly cryptic.<ref name="HBW3"/>

== Behaviour and ecology == Bustards are omnivorous, feeding principally on seeds and invertebrates. They make their nests on the ground, making their eggs and offspring often very vulnerable to predation. They walk steadily on strong legs and big toes, pecking for food as they go. Most prefer to run or walk over flying. They have long broad wings with "fingered" wingtips, and striking patterns in flight. Many have interesting mating displays, such as inflating throat sacs or elevating elaborate feathered crests. The female lays three to five dark, speckled eggs in a scrape in the ground, and incubates them alone.<ref name=EoB>{{cite book |editor=Forshaw, Joseph|author= Archibald, George W.|year=1991|title=Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds|publisher= Merehurst Press|location=London|pages= 98–99|isbn= 978-1-85391-186-6}}</ref>

== Evolution == Genetic dating indicates that bustards evolved {{Circa}} 30 million years ago in either southern or eastern Africa from where they dispersed into Eurasia and Australia.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Pitra | first1 = C. | last2 = Lieckfeldt | first2 = D. | last3 = Frahnert | first3 = S. | last4 = Fickel | first4 = J. | title = Phylogenetic relationships and ancestral areas of the bustards (Gruiformes: Otididae), inferred from mitochondrial DNA and nuclear intron sequences | year = 2002 | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | pages = 63–74 | doi = 10.1006/mpev.2001.1078 | pmid = 12182403 }}</ref>

== Status and conservation == thumb|Flying bustards – Apajpuszta, Hungary Bustards are gregarious outside the breeding season, but are very wary and difficult to approach in the open habitats they prefer.<ref name="bota">Bota, G., J. Camprodon, S. Mañosa & M.B. Morales (Editores). (2005). Ecology and Conservation of steppe-land birds. Lynx Editions. Barcelona {{ISBN|84-87334-99-7}}; 978-84-87334-99-3.</ref> Most species are declining or endangered through habitat loss and hunting, even where they are nominally protected.

=== United Kingdom === The birds were once common and abounded on the Salisbury Plain. They had become rare by 1819 when a large male, surprised by a dog on Newmarket Heath, sold in Leadenhall Market for five guineas.<ref>''The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol.III'', London, (1847) Charles Knight, p.963</ref> The last bustard in Britain died in approximately 1832, but the bird is being reintroduced through batches of chicks imported from Russia.<ref name="bota"/> In 2009, two great bustard chicks were hatched in Britain for the first time in more than 170 years.<ref name=birdguides>Bird Guides 2009. [https://www.birdguides.com/news/the-first-great-bustard-chicks-in-the-uk/ ''The first Great Bustard chicks in the UK''] Bird Guides, June 2009.</ref> Reintroduced bustards also hatched chicks in 2010.<ref>Biodiversity Lab 2010. [http://www.bath.ac.uk/bio-sci/biodiversity-lab/?p=230 ''Reintroduced Great Bustards Breed Again''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170125020031/http://www.bath.ac.uk/bio-sci/biodiversity-lab/?p=230 |date=2017-01-25}} The Biodiversity Lab, University of Bath.</ref>

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == {{Reflist|30em}} ==Bibliography== * Bota, Gerard, et al. ''Ecology and Conservation of Steppe-Land Birds''. International Symposium on Ecology and Conservation of Steppe-land birds. [https://web.archive.org/web/20181119164006/https://www.lynxeds.com/product/ecology-and-conservation-steppe-land-birds Lynx Edicions 2005]. 343 pages. {{ISBN|84-87334-99-7}}. * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Bustard}} * {{cite journal | last1=Hackett | first1=SJ | year=2008 | title=A phylogenomic study of birds reveals their evolutionary history | journal=Science | volume=320 | issue=5884 | pages=1763–1768 | doi=10.1126/science.1157704 | pmid=18583609|display-authors=etal| bibcode=2008Sci...320.1763H | s2cid=6472805}} * {{cite journal | last1=Jarvis | first1=Erich D | year=2014 | title=Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds | journal=Science | volume=346 | issue=6215 | pages=1320–1331 | doi=10.1126/science.1253451 |display-authors=etal | pmid=25504713 | pmc=4405904| bibcode=2014Sci...346.1320J}} * {{cite journal | last = Knox | first = Alan G. |author2=Martin Collinson |author3=Andreas J. Helbig |author4=David T. Parkin |author5=George Sangster |date=October 2002 | title = Taxonomic recommendations for British birds | journal = Ibis | volume = 144 | issue = 4 | pages = 707–710 | doi =10.1046/j.1474-919X.2002.00110.x | doi-access = free}} * {{cite book|last=Sibley|first=Charles G.|author2=Jon E. Ahlquist |title=Phylogeny and Classification of the Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution |year=1990|location=New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-04085-2}}

==External links== {{Wiktionary}} {{Commons category|Otididae}} {{Wikispecies|Otididae}} *[https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=otidid1&includeChildTaxa=true Bustard videos] on the Internet Bird Collection

Category:Extant Miocene first appearances * Category:Serravallian first appearances Category:Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque