CreatureData

Red-legged seriema

Cariama cristata (Linnaeus, 1766)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata) is a species in the family Cariamidae, order Cariamiformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.4 kg to 1.86 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata)
Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the red-legged seriema

Weight
1.4 kg – 1.86 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
shrublandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
25.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2.2 – 2.4src 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 red-legged seriema

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

Red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata)
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata)
José Reynaldo da Fonseca · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the red-legged seriema live?

Not recorded

What is the red-legged seriema?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata), also known as the crested cariama and crested seriema, is a mostly predatory terrestrial bird in the seriema family (Cariamidae), included in the Gruiformes in the old polyphyletic circumscription but recently placed in a distinct order: Cariamiformes (along with three extinct families).

The red-legged seriema is widely distributed in South America, occurring in central and eastern Brazil through eastern Bolivia and Paraguay to Uruguay and central Argentina (south to La Pampa).

Like the black-legged seriema, farmers often use them as guard animals to protect poultry from predators and sometimes human intruders.

From the Wikipedia article “Red-legged seriema” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red-legged_seriema&oldid=1373200166), 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 red-legged seriema endangered?

The red-legged seriema 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 red-legged seriema classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCariamiformes
  5. familyCariamidae
  6. genusCariama
  7. SpeciesCariama cristata (Linnaeus, 1766)

Synonyms Cariama cristata cristata, Palamedea cristata

Other names and names in other languages (39)
  • Crested cariamaEnglish
  • مقنزع أحمر الرجلArabic
  • seriema crestatCatalan
  • seriema rudozobáCzech
  • seriema coesgochWelsh
  • SeriemaDanish
  • Rødbenet seriemaDanish
  • RotfußseriemaGerman
  • Rotfuß-SeriemaGerman
  • ruĝkrura kariamoEsperanto
  • Chuña patirrojaSpanish
  • Chuña patas rojasSpanish
  • Seriema de Patas RojasSpanish
  • tuttserieemaEstonian
  • töyhtökäärmekurkiFinnish
  • Cariama huppéFrench
  • velika karijamaCroatian
  • vöröslábú kígyászdaruHungarian
  • Seriema crestatoItalian
  • Seriema zamperosseItalian
  • アカノガンモドキJapanese
  • 붉은다리느시사촌Korean
  • 붉은다리카리아마Korean
  • kuoduotoji kariamaLithuanian
  • KuifseriemaDutch
  • rødbeinseriemaNorwegian
  • kariama czerwononogaPolish
  • seriema-de-patas-vermelhasPortuguese
  • Хохлатая кариамаRussian
  • kariama červenozobáSlovak
  • Crvenonoga serijemaSerbian
  • rödbent seriemaSwedish
  • นกแซรีมาขาแดงThai
  • Tepeli KariyamaTurkish
  • Kızıl Ayaklı KariyamaTurkish
  • Tepelikli kariyamaTurkish
  • каріама червононогаUkrainian
  • 紅腿叫鶴Chinese
  • 红腿叫鹤Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the red-legged seriema

Other species in the same family Cariamidae.

CompareRed-legged seriema vs Black-legged seriema

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the red-legged seriema?

An adult red-legged seriema weighs 1.4 kg – 1.86 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the red-legged seriema endangered?

The red-legged seriema 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 red-legged seriema?

The red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata) belongs to the family Cariamidae in the order Cariamiformes.

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). Red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-legged-seriema

MLA

“Red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-legged-seriema.

BibTeX
@misc{red_legged_seriema_2026,
  title = {Red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-legged-seriema},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}