Helmeted+Guineafowl

toc //Numida meleagris // Order: Galliformes

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Notes on Enrichment & Training


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Potential Messaging


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=__Comments from the Rating System__=
 * Philadelphia Zoo: Surprisingly popular with visitors. Unusual species, and easy to handle for less experienced handlers. Noisy!

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Range and Habitat
Wild helmeted guinea fowl are common from Chad to the Rift Valley, south to Zaire, Kenya, and Uganda. They are found in open grasslands. However, they are also kept domestically throughout all of Africa, including Madagascar. They are also kept domestically in the rest of the world, included the United States; their meat and eggs are considered delicacies, and they eat a large variety of insects – including ticks.

Physical Description
Helmeted guinea fowl can have a variety of different colors, including pearl, lavender, white, slate, buff, royal purple, coral blue, blonde, and bronze. There are also five different color patterns: pearled, partially pearled, pied, solid, and two-toned. These birds are 20 inches long and weigh 1 to 4 pounds.

Life Cycle
During the breeding season, Guinea fowl are monogamous, meaning that they take only one mate per season. Helmeted guinea fowl lay 6 to 19 eggs per clutch. The female will incubate the eggs for 24 to 30 days; males do not participate in rearing. Average lifespan is 6 to 8 years.

Behavior
Guinea fowl are known for a “pot-rack, pot-rack” sound, but only females make this sound. Every sound that male guineas make are single-note sounds. Both sexes sound a very loud alarm call, which makes guineas useful as a security alarm on farms around the world. If a predator approaches the farm, the fowl will all begin making their unmistakable alarm call, alerting all other farm animals and the farmer to the predator’s presence. These are very social birds, living in large flocks that incorporate smaller family groups of 20 to 30 individuals. Flocks typically contain a few hundred members, but the highest flock count recorded contained 2,000 birds. Guinea fowl are extremely good runners and will run away (as opposed to fly) to escape predators.

Threats and Conservation Status
Common predators include cheetahs, wild canids, birds of prey, and humans. They are very abundant in the wild.

=__Did you know…__=
 * Helmeted guinea fowl are named for their bony casque (the protrusion at the back of their skull) which resembles a helmet.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Young Guinea fowl are called keets, not chicks.

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=__Contributors and Citations__=
 * The Philadelphia Zoo