African rail
Rallus caerulescens J. F. Gmelin, 1789
The African rail (Rallus caerulescens) is a species in the family Rallidae, order Gruiformes. Recorded adults weigh 145 g to 175.5 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the African rail
- Weight
- 145 g – 175.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.5 – 4.1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the African rail live?
Not recorded
What is the African rail?
The African rail (Rallus caerulescens), sometimes also Kaffir rail, is a small wetland bird of the rail family that is found in eastern and southern Africa.
From the Wikipedia article “African rail” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_rail&oldid=1368645860), 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 rail endangered?
The African rail is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the African rail classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderGruiformes
- familyRallidae
- genusRallus
- SpeciesRallus caerulescens J. F. Gmelin, 1789
Synonyms Rallus caeruleus, Rallus neglectus
Other names and names in other languages (42)
- AFRAEnglish
- Cape railEnglish
- Kaffir railEnglish
- RiethaantjieAfrikaans
- GrootriethaanAfrikaans
- تفلق أفريقيArabic
- مرعة أفريقيةArabic
- مرعه افريقيهEgyptian Arabic
- Rakig AfrikaBreton
- rascló africàCatalan
- chřástal rákosníCzech
- rhegen y PenrhynWelsh
- Afrikansk RikseDanish
- KapralleGerman
- afrika raloEsperanto
- Rascón cafreSpanish
- aafrika rooruikEstonian
- afrikanluhtakanaFinnish
- kafferiluhtakanaFinnish
- Râle bleuâtreFrench
- רלית אפריקניתHebrew
- afrička kokošicaCroatian
- kaffer guvatHungarian
- Porciglione africanoItalian
- アカハシクイナJapanese
- kapinė vištelėLithuanian
- ꯑꯐ꯭ꯔꯤꯀꯥꯟ ꯔꯦꯜManipuri
- Afrikaanse WaterralDutch
- afrikarikseNorwegian
- wodnik afrykańskiPolish
- frango-d'água-africanoPortuguese
- Frango-d’água-africanoPortuguese
- frango-de-água-africanoPortuguese
- Капский пастушокRussian
- chriašteľ trstinovýSlovak
- Afrički petlovanSerbian
- afrikansk rallSwedish
- Afrika SukılavuzuTurkish
- пастушок африканськийUkrainian
- Chim nước châu PhiVietnamese
- 暗蓝秧鸡Chinese
- 暗藍秧雞Chinese
Relatives of the African rail
Other species in the same genus Rallus.
Water rail
Rallus aquaticus
Bogotá rail
Rallus semiplumbeus
Virginia rail
Rallus limicola
Mangrove rail
Rallus longirostris
Madagascar rail
Rallus madagascariensis
King rail
Rallus elegans
CompareAfrican rail vs Water railAfrican rail vs Bogotá railAfrican rail vs Virginia railAfrican rail vs Mangrove rail
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the African rail?
An adult African rail weighs 145 g – 175.5 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the African rail endangered?
The African rail is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the African rail?
The African rail (Rallus caerulescens) belongs to the family Rallidae in the order Gruiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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.
CreatureData. (2026). African rail (Rallus caerulescens). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-rail
“African rail (Rallus caerulescens).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-rail.
@misc{african_rail_2026,
title = {African rail (Rallus caerulescens)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-rail},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}