Japanese quail
Amazing fact
A male Japanese quail holds a small worm in its beak and offers it to a female.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A male Japanese quail holds a small worm in its beak and offers it to a female.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Japanese quail
- Scientific name
- Coturnix japonica
- Japanese name
- ウズラ
- Group
- Birds
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Phasianidae
- Genus
- Coturnix
This page describes the life of wild Japanese quail; the species is also kept as a domestic animal.
It is a migratory bird: from spring to summer it raises its young in cool areas such as Hokkaido and eastern Japan, and in winter it moves to warmer areas.
It has a small, round body that is dark brown with buff mottling on the back, a shape that is easy to hide in the shadows of grass.
It makes its nest in a shallow scrape in the ground lined with dry grass. Its eggs and chicks are mottled too, so they are hard to spot.
How the Japanese quail lives
It eats seeds from many kinds of grasses. In summer it also eats a variety of insects and other small invertebrates. Males give distinctive calls during the breeding season.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web井の頭自然文化園Basic data
- Size
- Total length: about 20 cm
- Diet
- Seeds, insects, and other foods
- Range
- Japan, East Asia, and Southeast Asia
- Conservation status in Japan
- Vulnerable (VU)Ministry of the Environment of Japan, 5th Red List (2026)
Where the Japanese quail 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
- ウズラ
- 简体中文
- 鹌鹑
- 繁體中文
- 日本鵪鶉
- 한국어
- 메추라기
- Español
- Codorniz japonesa
- Français
- Caille du Japon
- Deutsch
- Japanwachtel
- Português (Brasil)
- Codorna-japonesa
- Italiano
- Quaglia del Giappone
- हिन्दी
- जापानी बटेर
- العربية
- سمان ياباني
- Tiếng Việt
- Chim cút Nhật Bản
- Русский
- Немой перепел
- Türkçe
- Japon Bıldırcını
- বাংলা
- জাপানি বটেরা
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 — ウズラChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Coturnix japonicaChecked: 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.
Report a mistakeWhen you meet the Japanese quail, look for this
- Look for the whitish stripe above its eye.
Animals do different things from day to day, so you may not always see this.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebEXHIBIT INFORMATION
Places that keep or show the Japanese quail
Zoos, aquariums and other places whose official websites say they keep or show this animal.
Kanto
Displays can change with the animals’ health and the seasons. Check each facility’s official website before you go.
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Others in Phasianidae
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