Vulturine Guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum), family Numididae, found in northern and central Africa
photograph via: @rockjumper_birding_tours
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Helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris)
Part of a collection of watercolors by "M. Rabié" for St. Domingue Oiseaux. Dated 1766.
Internet Archive
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Bela Sara (1920 - 1968) - Guineafowl. Gouache on paper.
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Guineafowl
By: Unknown photographer
From: Disney’s Wonderful World of Knowledge
1971
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Subspecies of helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris)
West African N. m. galeatus [x]
Ethiopian N. m. meleagris [x]
Reichenow’s N. m. reichenowi [x]
Tufted N. m. mitratus [x]
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Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris)
Family: Guineafowl Family (Numididae)
IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern
Widely distributed across Sub-Saharan Africa, Helmeted Guineafowl (singular and plural) are easily recognized thanks to their striking spotted bodies, featherless blue-skinned heads and namesake bony "helmets” (which are short and rounded in females and taller and sharper in males.) Spending the day foraging on the ground and roosting in the branches of trees at night, members of this species favour dry, open habitats and live in large flocks throughout most of the year, breaking up into mating pairs during the spring breeding season (with both parents working in shifts to incubate their eggs, which resemble speckled Chicken eggs and are laid on the ground in ditches lined with twigs and leaves, and to raise their chicks, which are known as keets and are born without the helmets of adults) and returning to larger groups after their chicks have fledged in the late summer. The diet of Helmeted Guineafowl varies seasonally; throughout most of the year they feed largely on grasses, seeds, bulbs and roots, but as their nutritional needs change during the breeding season small animals such as insects, arachnids, snails and small vertebrates become more prominent in their diet - in particular, they are known to feed on large numbers of grass-dwelling ticks during the spring, and in doing so benefit other animals within their range by limiting the ability of ticks to spread between hosts and transfer diseases. While foraging in groups Helmeted Guineafowl vocalize near-constantly to notify their flockmates of their presence, and at the first sign of one of their many predators (including Leopards, Servals and a wide range of large snakes and birds-of-prey) the first individual to spot it will produce an extremely loud alarm call, prompting the group to scatter and run for shelter (although members of this species can fly in short bursts, they are far more capable on the ground and will only take to the air as a last resort.) Both within their home range and throughout the wider world captive populations of Helmeted Guineafowl have been farmed for their meat and eggs for centuries, allowing escaped feral populations to have become established in parts of Australia, Europe and North America.
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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1428-Numida-meleagris
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Crested guineafowl (Guttera pucherani) by Linda De Volder
Kenya Guineafowl (Guttera pucherani)
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Vulturine Guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum), family Numididae, order Galliformes, found in northern and central Africa
This bird is the only member of this genus.
photograph by cherelleoverklift
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Parelhoen. Jan Mankes (1889-1920)
via
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Helmeted guineafowl
By: G. V. Adkin
From: The Complete Encyclopedia of the Animal World
1980
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