CreatureData

African darter

Anhinga rufa (Daudin, 1802)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The African darter (Anhinga rufa) is a species in the family Anhingidae, order Suliformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.48 kg to 1.54 kg and live up to 16 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

African darter (Anhinga rufa)
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the African darter

Weight
1.48 kg – 1.54 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
1.16 m – 1.28 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
16 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
28 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
4src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the African darter?

AFRICAN DARTER · WINGSPAN 1.28 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 1.28 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the African darter is about 75% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the African darter

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.

Where does the African darter live?

Not recorded

What is the African darter?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The African darter (Anhinga rufa), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of Sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq.

From the Wikipedia article “African darter” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_darter&oldid=1371703430), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the African darter endangered?

The African darter is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the African darter classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderSuliformes
  5. familyAnhingidae
  6. genusAnhinga
  7. SpeciesAnhinga rufa (Daudin, 1802)

Synonyms Anhinga melanogaster rufa, Plotus capensis, Plotus congensis, Plotus levaillantii, Plotus levaillantii, Plotus rufus

Other names and names in other languages (59)
  • AFDAEnglish
  • DarterEnglish
  • DarterEnglish
  • SlanghalsvoëlAfrikaans
  • قاذف أفريقيArabic
  • زُقة افريقيةArabic
  • Afrika ilanboyunuAzerbaijani
  • Африканска змиешийкаBulgarian
  • Evn-naer AfrikaBreton
  • anhinga africàCatalan
  • anhinga africkáCzech
  • gwanwr AffricaWelsh
  • Afrikansk SlangehalsfuglDanish
  • SchlangenhalsvogelGerman
  • Afrika-SchlangenhalsvogelGerman
  • Afrikanischer SchlangenhalsvogelGerman
  • afrika anhingoEsperanto
  • Afrika sagobirdoEsperanto
  • Anhinga africanaSpanish
  • aafrika madukaelEstonian
  • مارگردنPersian
  • مارگردن آفریقاییPersian
  • afrikankäärmekaulaFinnish
  • Anhinga rouxFrench
  • Anhinga d'AfriqueFrench
  • Anhinga d’AfriqueFrench
  • Oiseau serpentFrench
  • Rúidire AfracachIrish
  • נחשון אפריקאיHebrew
  • נחשון אפריקניHebrew
  • afrikai kígyónyakúmadárHungarian
  • Pecuk-ular afrikaIndonesian
  • RauðskutliIcelandic
  • Aninga africanaItalian
  • アフリカヘビウJapanese
  • აფრიკული ანჰინგაGeorgian
  • LingɔngɔLingala
  • afrikinis žalčiagalvisLithuanian
  • Āfrikas čūskkaklisLatvian
  • VoronalavambozonaMalagasy
  • Afrikaanse slangehalsvogelDutch
  • Afrikaanse slangenhalsvogelDutch
  • afrikaslangehalsNorwegian
  • wężówka afrykańskaPolish
  • mergulhão-serpente-africanoPortuguese
  • Mergulhão-serpentePortuguese
  • Африканская змеешейкаRussian
  • AfrihkágearpmaščottáNorthern Sami
  • anhinga hrdzavokrkáSlovak
  • Afrička zmijovrataSerbian
  • afrikansk ormhalsfågelSwedish
  • นกอ้ายงั่วแอฟริกันThai
  • yilanboyunTurkish
  • TimeletsaneTswana
  • змієшийка африканськаUkrainian
  • Chim cổ rắn châu PhiVietnamese
  • 紅蛇鵜Chinese
  • 红蛇鹈Chinese
  • 非洲蛇鵜〔紅蛇鵜〕Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the African darter

Other species in the same genus Anhinga.

LC, Least Concern
Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)

Anhinga

Anhinga anhinga

Anhingidae

CompareAfrican darter vs Oriental darterAfrican darter vs AnhingaAfrican darter vs Australasian darterAfrican darter vs Anhinga beckeri

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the African darter?

An adult African darter weighs 1.48 kg – 1.54 kg and has a wingspan of 1.16 m – 1.28 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the African darter endangered?

The African darter is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the African darter live?

The African darter has a recorded lifespan of 16 years.

What kind of animal is the African darter?

The African darter (Anhinga rufa) belongs to the family Anhingidae in the order Suliformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

Embed a card for this animal on your own site

Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). African darter (Anhinga rufa). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-darter

MLA

“African darter (Anhinga rufa).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-darter.

BibTeX
@misc{african_darter_2026,
  title = {African darter (Anhinga rufa)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-darter},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}