Common moorhen
Amazing fact
The common moorhen can walk on aquatic vegetation.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The common moorhen can walk on aquatic vegetation.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Common moorhen
- Scientific name
- Gallinula chloropus
- Japanese name
- バン
- Group
- Birds
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Gallinula
It lives by ponds, rivers, rice paddies and other waters, eating plant seeds and insects. It builds its nest in thick reeds and cattails.
Its body is black, and its bill is bright red with a yellow tip. Its legs are bright yellow-green.
Its name, ban, is said to come from “the bird that keeps watch (ban) over the rice fields,” because it was often seen in paddies.
How the Common moorhen lives
It is active during the day. While floating, it dips its head into the water and sifts food from the surface. It can also dive and propel itself with its legs. At dusk, it roosts in low trees or bushes.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- Total length: about 33 cm井の頭自然文化園
- Lifespan
- up to 11 years in the wildUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Active
- By day (diurnal)University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Plant seeds, insects, shellfish, earthworms, and other foods井の頭自然文化園
- Range
- Japan, Eurasia, Africa, Central America, and South America井の頭自然文化園
- Conservation status in Japan
- Vulnerable (VU)Assessed as Gallinula chloropus chloropusMinistry of the Environment of Japan, 5th Red List (2026)
Where the Common moorhen has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- バン
- 简体中文
- 黑水鸡
- 繁體中文
- 紅冠水雞
- 한국어
- 쇠물닭
- Español
- Gallineta común
- Français
- Gallinule poule-d'eau
- Deutsch
- Teichhuhn
- Português (Brasil)
- Galinha-d'água-comum
- Italiano
- Gallinella d'acqua
- العربية
- دجاجة الماء خضراء الأقدام
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Mandar batu
- Tiếng Việt
- Kịch
- Русский
- Камышница
- Türkçe
- Saztavuğu
- ไทย
- นกอีล้ำ
- বাংলা
- পাতি জলমুরগি
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 井の頭自然文化園 — バンChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Gallinula chloropusChecked: 2026-11-03
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, 5th Red List (2026)Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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