Talk:Kori bustard

The figures for the kori bustard's wingspan are incorrect
Hi,

I am one of the editors of the BBC Earth website, and was responsible for this story on the largest flying animals: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160506-the-biggest-animals-that-ever-flew-are-long-extinct

We mentioned the kori bustard as having a wingspan of up to 75cm. Several users have since written in to say that they think this is wrong. They all cited the Wikipedia article, which gives much larger estimates of "230 to 275 cm" for males and "177 to 220 cm" for females.

Our original source was http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ardeotis_kori/, which is based on the primary scientific literature and is generally authoritative.

When the complaints began we went to an independent expert: Sara Hallager, curator of birds at the National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, who is also the International Studbook keeper for captive-bred kori bustards. Her website is http://www.si.edu/researchstudy/Staffhp/HallagerS.htm. She confirms that our figure is correct.

On this basis I'm convinced that the Wikipedia figure is wrong. It is not referenced on the page and I haven't been able to find a source for it in the scientific literature, so I'm afraid I can't offer any information about where it might have come from.

Best, Michael c marshall (talk) 08:38, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Hi, 2.5 years later, I've incorporated this information into the article. Thanks Michael! 2620:0:1045:18:7160:6E50:4F33:28C4 (talk) 08:27, 21 November 2019 (UTC)


 * This is still unclear/unresolved. There should be more than one point of reference for "75cm" wingspan - almost every other source I can find points to it being at least 116 cm. What does the Birds of Botswana book indicate? Recon  rabbit  15:45, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Very few scientific sources will ever give wingspan which is measured from tip to tip of the outstretched wing - it will vary considerably and is of little scientific use. On the other other hand that 75 cm measure (629-761 mm) is the length of the wing measured from the tip of the bend of the wing to the tip of the longest primary. See Bird measurement. Shyamal (talk) 01:53, 6 June 2024 (UTC)