Status
The African Crake has a huge breeding range estimated at 15,700,000 km2 (4,500,000 mi2). Its population is unknown, but it is common in most of its range, and its numbers appear to be stable. It is therefore classed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Overgrazing, agriculture and the loss of wetland and moist grassland have reduced the availability of suitable habitat in many areas, such as some parts of the southern KwaZulu-Natal coast which have been urbanised or planted with sugarcane. In other areas, grassland may have increased locally in recent years as woodland is cleared. This crake is considered to be good eating, and is killed for food in some regions. Despite these adverse factors, it appears to be under no real threat.
Although most rails in the Old World are covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), the African Crake is not listed even in Kenya, where it is considered "near-threatened". Like its relative, the Corn Crake, it is too terrestrial to be classed as a wetland species.
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