Guineafowl (; sometimes called "pet speckled hens" or "original fowl") are
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s of the family Numididae in the order
Galliformes
Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are ofte ...
. They are endemic to
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and rank among the oldest of the gallinaceous birds.
Phylogenetically, they branched off from the core Galliformes after the
Cracidae
The chachalacas, guans and curassows are birds in the family Cracidae. These are species of tropical and subtropical Central and South America. The range of one species, the plain chachalaca, just reaches southernmost parts of Texas in the Unite ...
(chachalacas, guans, and curassows) and before the Odontophoridae (
New World quail
The New World quail are small birds only distantly related to the Old World quail, but named for their similar appearance and habits. The American species are in their own family, the Odontophoridae, whereas Old World quail are in the pheasant ...
). An
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
lineage ''
Telecrex'' has been associated with guineafowl; ''Telecrex'' inhabited
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
, and may have given rise to the oldest of the true
phasianids, such as
blood pheasants and
eared pheasants, which
evolved into high-altitude, montane-adapted species with the rise of the
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the ...
. While modern guineafowl species are endemic to Africa, the
helmeted guineafowl has been
introduced as a domesticated bird widely elsewhere.
Taxonomy and systematics
This is a list of guineafowl
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
, presented in
taxonomic order
Taxonomic sequence (also known as systematic, phyletic or taxonomic order) is a sequence followed in listing of taxa which aids ease of use and roughly reflects the evolutionary relationships among the taxa. Taxonomic sequences can exist for taxa ...
.
Phylogeny
Cladogram based on a study by De Chen and collaborators published in 2021.
Description
The
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
- and seed-eating, ground-nesting birds of this family resemble
partridge
A partridge is a medium-sized galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They are sometimes grouped in the Perd ...
s, but with featherless heads, though both members of the genus ''Guttera'' have a distinctive black
crest, and the vulturine guineafowl has a downy brown patch on the nape. Most species of guineafowl have a dark grey or blackish
plumage with dense white spots, but both members of the genus ''Agelastes'' lack the spots. While several species are relatively well known, the plumed guineafowl and the two members of the genus ''Agelastes'' remain relatively poorly known. These large birds measure in length, and weigh . Guinea hens weigh more than guinea cocks, possibly because of the larger reproductive organs in the female compared to the male guinea fowl. Also, the presence of relatively larger egg clusters in the dual-purpose guinea hens may be a factor that contributes to the higher body weight of the guinea hens.
Behaviour and ecology
The species for which information is known are normally
monogamous, mating for life, or are serially
monogamous; however, occasional exceptions have been recorded for helmeted and Kenya crested guineafowl, which have been reported to be
polygamous in captivity. All guineafowl are social, and typically live in small groups or large flocks. Though they are monogamous, species of the least-derived genera ''
Guttera'', ''
Agelastes'', and ''
Acryllium'' tend toward social
polyandry, a trait shared with other primitive galliforms such as
roul roul, and
Congo peafowl
The Congo peafowl (''Afropavo congensis''), also known as the African peafowl or ''mbulu'' by the Bakôngo, is a species of peafowl native to the Congo Basin. It is one of three peafowl species and the only member of the subfamily Pavoninae nat ...
.
Guineafowl travel behind herd animals and beneath
monkey troops, where they forage within manure and on items that have fallen to the
understory
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...
from the
canopy
Canopy may refer to:
Plants
* Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests)
* Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes
Religion and ceremonies
* Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...
. They play a pivotal role in the control of
ticks,
flies
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...
,
locust
Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstanc ...
s,
scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always en ...
s, and other
invertebrates
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 chordat ...
. They pluck
maggots from carcasses and manure.
Wild guineafowl are strong flyers. Their breast muscles are dark (aerobic metabolism), enabling them to sustain themselves in flight for considerable distances if hard-pressed. Grass and bush fires are a constant threat to them and flight is the most effective escape.
Some species of guineafowl, like the vulturine, may go without drinking water for extended periods, instead sourcing their moisture from their food. Young guineafowl (called keets) are very sensitive to weather, in particular cold temperatures.
Guinea hens are not known to be good mothers, but in the wild, the guinea hen's mate (a guinea cock) may help tend the young keets during the day by keeping them warm and finding food. Sometimes, more than one cock helps raise the young. Guineafowl (hens and cocks together) make good parents. During warm weather, the cock is unlikely to set on the keets during the night (leaving that duty to the hen), but may help the hen keep them warm at night when temperatures drop below freezing.
Guineafowl may be trained to go into a coop (instead of roosting in trees) when very young. Once hatched and ready to leave the brooder (around 3 weeks), they may be enclosed in a coop for at least 3 days so they learn where "home" is. When guinea parents (that already roost in a coop) raise their own keets, the hen sets on them outdoors at night, but then the parents teach the keets to also go into the coop in the evenings around 3 weeks of age.
Each sex has a different call, which can be used to differentiate between female and male. Unlike chickens (which generally do best with one rooster for a flock of hens), guinea fowl do well with one cock for each hen.
Guineafowl have been shown to act as a deterrent to foxes.
Due to the spread of
Lyme disease from ticks, Guineafowl are often kept because they will eat the ticks.
Distribution and habitat
Guineafowl species are found across
sub-Saharan Africa, some almost in the entire range, others more localized, such as the
plumed guineafowl
The plumed guineafowl (''Guttera plumifera'') is a member of the guineafowl bird family. It is found in humid primary forest in Central Africa. It resembles some subspecies of the crested guineafowl, but has a straighter (not curled) and higher c ...
in west-central Africa and the
vulturine guineafowl in north-east Africa. They live in semiopen habitats such as
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
or
semideserts, while some, such as the
black guineafowl, mainly inhabit forests. Some perch high on treetops.
The helmeted guinea fowl has been introduced in
East Africa,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
, the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, where it is raised as food or pets.
Guineafowl as food
Guineafowl meat is moist, firmer and leaner than
chicken meat
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or hogs—chicken meat (commonly called just "chicken") and chicken eggs have becom ...
and has a slight gamey flavour. It has marginally more protein than chicken or
turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, roughly half the fat of chicken and slightly less
food energy
Food energy is chemical energy that animals (including humans) derive from their food to sustain their metabolism, including their muscular activity.
Most animals derive most of their energy from aerobic respiration, namely combining the carbohy ...
per gram. Their eggs are substantially richer than those of chickens.
Image:Crested guineafowl mkuze.jpg, Crested guineafowl
The crested guineafowl (''Guttera pucherani'') is a member of the Numididae, the guineafowl bird family. It is found in open forest, woodland and forest-savanna mosaics in sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
It has a total length around 50 cm ...
in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
Image:Acryllium vulturinum Schönbrunn2008c.jpg, Head of a vulturine guineafowl
Image:Numida meleagris.jpg, Helmeted guineafowl in Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
File:DEGAN Gabin ( guinea pigs).jpg, Guineafowl in Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...
References
Further reading
* Madge and McGowan, ''Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse''.
* Martínez, I. (1994). "Family Numididae (Guineafowl)", p. 554–570 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. ''Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 2. New World Vultures to Guineafowl''. Lynx Edicions,
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
.
External links
Guineafowl videoson the Internet Bird Collection
Early Birds: Guinea Fowl by Dennis Headley
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