---
title: "African Jacana"
description: "Actophilornis africanus — Birds. The African jacana (Actophilornis africanus) is a wader in the family Jacanidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/african-jacana
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# African Jacana

> Actophilornis africanus — Birds. The African jacana (Actophilornis africanus) is a wader in the family Jacanidae.

- Scientific name: *Actophilornis africanus*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 6528
- Wikidata: [Q132201](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q132201)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4585](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4585)

## Names

- en: African Jacana
- de: Blaustirn-Blatthühnchen
- es: Jacana africana
- fr: Jacana à poitrine dorée
- nl: Grootlangtoon
- pt: Jacana-africana
- pl: Długoszpon afrykański

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (2159), BW (754), KE (599), UG (416), NA (305), TZ (284), ZM (256), GM (246), ZW (199), BJ (175), ET (152), SN (108)

## Summary

The African jacana (Actophilornis africanus) is a wader in the family Jacanidae. It has long toes and long claws that enable it to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, its preferred habitat. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. For the origin and pronunciation of the name, see Jacanidae.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_jacana

## Photo

![African Jacana](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/african-jacana/medium.jpg)

Photo: Paula Zermoglio · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/277559548

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/african-jacana?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).