CreatureData

Giant snipe

Gallinago undulata (Boddaert, 1783)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The giant snipe (Gallinago undulata) is a species in the family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 294 g to 332 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Giant snipe (Gallinago undulata)
Photo: Hector Bottai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the giant snipe

Weight
294 g – 332 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
grasslandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
2.65 – 2.8src 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

Photos of the giant snipe

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

Giant snipe (Gallinago undulata)
Nicolas Huet / Jean Gabriel Prêtre · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the giant snipe live?

Not recorded

What is the giant snipe?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The giant snipe (Gallinago undulata) is a stocky wader. It breeds in South America. The nominate subspecies G. u. undulata occurs in two distinct areas, one in Colombia, and the other from Venezuela through Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana to extreme north-eastern Brazil. The southern subspecies G. u. gigantea is found in eastern Bolivia, eastern Paraguay and south-east Brazil, and probably also in Uruguay and north-eastern Argentina.

It occurs in tall vegetation in swamps and flooded grasslands, and occasionally in dry savannah. It ranges from the lowlands up to 2,200 m altitude.

It seems to arrive in some areas after rain, but its seasonal movements are very poorly understood.

From the Wikipedia article “Giant snipe” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giant_snipe&oldid=1314527821), 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 giant snipe endangered?

The giant snipe 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. What the categories mean.

How is the giant snipe classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyScolopacidae
  6. genusGallinago
  7. SpeciesGallinago undulata (Boddaert, 1783)

Synonyms Capella undulata

Other names and names in other languages (30)
  • شنقب عملاقArabic
  • becadell gegantCatalan
  • bekasina velkáCzech
  • gïach cawraiddWelsh
  • KæmpebekkasinDanish
  • RiesenbekassineGerman
  • giganta galinagoEsperanto
  • Becasina giganteSpanish
  • Agachadiza giganteSpanish
  • hiidneppEstonian
  • isokurppaFinnish
  • Bécassine géanteFrench
  • velika šljukaCroatian
  • óriássárszalonkaHungarian
  • Beccaccino giganteItalian
  • オニタシギJapanese
  • didysis perkūno oželisLithuanian
  • ReuzensnipDutch
  • kjempebekkasinNorwegian
  • bekas wielkiPolish
  • narcejãoPortuguese
  • narceja-gigantePortuguese
  • Большой бекасRussian
  • močiarnica vlnkovanáSlovak
  • Velika barska šljukaSerbian
  • jättebeckasinSwedish
  • Büyük ÇullukTurkish
  • баранець-велетеньUkrainian
  • 巨沙錐Chinese
  • 巨沙锥Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the giant snipe

Other species in the same genus Gallinago.

LC, Least Concern
Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

Common snipe

Gallinago gallinago

Scolopacidae

NT, Near Threatened
Great snipe (Gallinago media)

Great snipe

Gallinago media

Scolopacidae

CompareGiant snipe vs Common snipeGiant snipe vs Great snipeGiant snipe vs Pin-tailed snipeGiant snipe vs Solitary snipe

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the giant snipe?

An adult giant snipe weighs 294 g – 332 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the giant snipe endangered?

The giant snipe 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 giant snipe?

The giant snipe (Gallinago undulata) belongs to the family Scolopacidae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

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

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Giant snipe (Gallinago undulata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-snipe

MLA

“Giant snipe (Gallinago undulata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-snipe.

BibTeX
@misc{giant_snipe_2026,
  title = {Giant snipe (Gallinago undulata)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-snipe},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}