Helmeted Guinea Fowl

ORDER: Galliformes

FAMILY: Phasianidae

GENUS: Numida

SPECIES: meleagris

DESCRIPTION:

Medium sized fowl with strong legs and a bony crest which has a variety of shapes according to the particular sub-species. Plumage generally black with a bead-like design of closely set white dots. Head has only a few feathers. Pendant wattles on each side of the beak are blue with red tips. The sexes are alike. Loud sustained call.

GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE AND HABITAT:

Africa except for desert and heavy forest. Savannah, open forests, rocky terrain with isolated bushes and trees, cultivated fields.

DIET:

Any variety of animal and plant food, e.g. seeds, berries, greens, small snails, spiders, and insects.

LIFE CYCLE/SOCIAL STRUCTURE:

Often appear in great flocks. flying to their watering place at dawn and in the evening. They stay in the shade at noon, hunt for food during the rest of the day and roost in trees at night. Nest is a shallow cavity in the ground,protected by bush or tall grass. 12 to 15 eggs are incubated for 27 days. Males stay near the nest.

SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS:

Great runners; can cover 20 miles in a day.

INTERPRETIVE INFORMATION::

Helmeted guinea fowl are the stock from which the domestic guinea fowl are derived. First domesticated by the ancient Egyptians and Carthaginians.

OUR ANIMALS:

1 Male. 1 Female.

STATUS IN THE WILD:

Not endangered.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Docent training manual archives.
2. C.W. Mackworth-Praed and C.H.B. Grant. 1957. The Birds of Eastern and North Eastern Africa. Longmans Green, London and New York.
3. Sibley & Monroe. 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World, Yale University Press, New Haven CT, p. 23.