CreatureData

Kagu

Rhynochetos jubatus J. Verreaux & Des Murs, 1860

ENEndangeredbirds

The kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus) is a species in the family Rhynochetidae, order Eurypygiformes. Recorded adults weigh 700 g to 880 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Endangered.

Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus)
Photo: JJ Harrison · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the kagu

Weight
700 g – 880 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
86 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
31 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
35 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
23.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

How big is the kagu?

KAGU · WINGSPAN 86 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 86 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the kagu is about 51% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the kagu live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The kagu is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the kagu?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The kagu or cagou (Rhynochetos jubatus) is a crested, long-legged, and bluish-grey bird endemic to the dense mountain forests of New Caledonia. It is the only surviving member of the genus Rhynochetos and family Rhynochetidae, although a second species has been described from the fossil record.

Measuring 55 cm (22 in) in length, it has pale grey plumage and bright red legs. Its nasal corns are a unique feature not shared with any other bird. Almost flightless, it spends its time on or near the ground, where it hunts its invertebrate prey and builds a nest of sticks on the forest floor. Both parents share incubation of a single egg and rearing the chick. It has proven vulnerable to introduced predators and is threatened with extinction.

From the Wikipedia article “Kagu” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kagu&oldid=1380740123), 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 kagu endangered?

The kagu is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

  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 Endangered species.

How is the kagu classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderEurypygiformes
  5. familyRhynochetidae
  6. genusRhynochetos
  7. SpeciesRhynochetos jubatus J. Verreaux & Des Murs, 1860

Synonyms Rhynchochetos jubatus, Rhynochetos nigriceps, Rhynochetus jubata

Other names and names in other languages (24)
  • كاغوArabic
  • الكاغوArabic
  • KaquAzerbaijani
  • КагуBulgarian
  • KagouBreton
  • kauuobwa
  • kagu chocholatýCzech
  • cagwWelsh
  • ΚάγκουGreek
  • kaguoEsperanto
  • KagúSpanish
  • کاگوPersian
  • CagouFrench
  • Kagou huppéFrench
  • קגוHebrew
  • カグーJapanese
  • 카구Korean
  • KagoeDutch
  • CagóOccitan
  • pupwiipme
  • caguPortuguese
  • kagu vlasatýSlovak
  • 鷺鶴Chinese
  • 鹭鹤Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the kagu

Other species in the same genus Rhynochetos.

Lowland kagu

Rhynochetos orarius

RhynochetidaeNo free photo yet

CompareKagu vs Lowland kagu

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the kagu?

An adult kagu weighs 700 g – 880 g and has a wingspan of 86 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the kagu live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the kagu for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the kagu endangered?

The kagu is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

What kind of animal is the kagu?

The kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus) belongs to the family Rhynochetidae in the order Eurypygiformes.

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). Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/kagu

MLA

“Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/kagu.

BibTeX
@misc{kagu_2026,
  title = {Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/kagu},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}