Threatened species of Eupodotis bengalensis

Eupodotis bengalensis has suffered from chronic loss of its wet grassland (notably the relatively short Imperata) habitat so that it now survives almost exclusively in very small, fragmented populations.

The distribution of Eupodotis bengalensis includes Bangladesh (probably extinct), possibly Cambodia, India, Nepal and Viet Nam.

The population of Eupodotis bengalensis probably totals as few as 300-400 birds in protected areas on the border of Nepal and India and in north-eastern India.

A subspecifically distinct but virtually unknown population exists in southern Cambodia (collected in a presumed wintering area in 1928) and adjacent north-west Cochinchina, southern Vietnam, whence there have been recent (1990--1994) records involving four or fewer birds from Dong Thap province, in very restricted and diminishing grass areas in and near Tram Chim Nature Reserve.

The IUCN considers Eupodotis bengalensis as "Endangered". CITES lists the species as "Appendix 1".