The Tanimbar megapode or Tanimbar scrubfowl (''Megapodius tenimberensis'') is a small
megapode
The megapodes, also known as incubator birds or mound-builders, are stocky, medium-large, chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae. Their name literally means "large foot" and is a reference to the heavy legs ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the
Tanimbar Islands
The Tanimbar Islands, also called ''Timur Laut'', are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku (province), Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to t ...
of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. It is sometimes considered to be a
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
of the
orange-footed scrubfowl
The orange-footed scrubfowl (''Megapodius reinwardt''), also known as orange-footed megapode or just scrubfowl is a small megapode of the family Megapodiidae.
This species comprises five subspecies found on many islands in the Lesser Sunda Islan ...
, ''Megapodius reinwardt''.
It is a terrestrial bird the size of a domestic
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
, which is found in a range of forest and scrub
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s.
It feeds on seeds, fallen fruit and terrestrial
invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s. Like other megapodes, it nests in large mounds of sand, leaf litter and other debris where the heat generated by the decomposition of organic material serves to incubate the
eggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
.
References
* Jones, Darryl N.; Dekker, Rene W.R.J.; & Roselaar, Cees S. (1995). ''The Megapodes''. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q968178
Tanimbar megapode
The Tanimbar megapode or Tanimbar scrubfowl (''Megapodius tenimberensis'') is a small megapode endemic to the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia. It is sometimes considered to be a subspecies of the orange-footed scrubfowl, ''Megapodius reinwardt''.
...
Birds of the Tanimbar Islands
Tanimbar megapode
The Tanimbar megapode or Tanimbar scrubfowl (''Megapodius tenimberensis'') is a small megapode endemic to the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia. It is sometimes considered to be a subspecies of the orange-footed scrubfowl, ''Megapodius reinwardt''.
...
Tanimbar megapode
The Tanimbar megapode or Tanimbar scrubfowl (''Megapodius tenimberensis'') is a small megapode endemic to the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia. It is sometimes considered to be a subspecies of the orange-footed scrubfowl, ''Megapodius reinwardt''.
...