Critically Endangered
São Tomé Ibis
Bostrychia bocagei
The São Tomé ibis, also known as the dwarf olive ibis or the dwarf ibis, is a critically endangered bird that is endemic to São Tomé off the western coast of Central Africa in the Gulf of Guinea.
Appearance
The São Tomé ibis measures 248 mm on its wings, 75 mm on its bill, 52 mm on its tarsus, and 95 mm on its tail, on average. The head is a dull olive color with black surrounding the eyes and the base of the bill.
Range and habitat
The São Tomé ibis was discovered in the late 1800s by Francisco Newton, a Portuguese collector, inhabiting the island of São Tomé off the coast of Western Africa. Alongside 19 other endemic species of birds, the São Tomé ibis is one of the 10 that are threatened for extinction, but little has been done to protect the island's very high biodiversity. It is found in primary forest below 450 m altitude, being seen almost exclusively in the southern forests.
Living with 19 other species of endemic birds on the island, the dwarf ibis is one of 10 that are threatened for extinction. A neighboring subspecies of the São Tomé ibis on the island of Príncipe became extinct in the last century, indicating that small habitats like São Tomé make ibises more vulnerable to threats and extinction.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Bocagei chooses to nest between 8m and 16m up in the trees in the forests.
In crisis
The São Tomé ibis, also known as the dwarf olive ibis or the dwarf ibis, is a critically endangered bird that is endemic to São Tomé off the western coast of Central Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. B. Bocagei prefers the southern forests almost exclusively living there in nests that are high up in the trees to avoid predators. Aside from predation, other common threats to the species include overhunting and habitat loss as a result of overexploitation of resources by the people of São Tomé.
The extremely small population of São Tomé ibises contains between 50 and 249 individuals. Due to this, it is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
São Tomé Ibis is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on São Tomé ibis, Wikidata item Q244269. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
