Helmeted Guinea fowl

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

 (Numidameleagris)

Photographed at Reid Zoo, Tucson, Arizona   Mar 2010

This is a family of insect and seed-eating, ground-nesting birds that resemble partridges, but with featherless heads. They breed in Africa, mainly south of the Sahara, and has been widely introduced into the West Indies and southern France.

Helmeted guinea fowl are not agile fliers but they do manage short bursts of rapid flight. When they sense danger, they usually flee by running away quickly, often plunging into the shelter of thick vegetation.

Helmeted guinea fowl are not currently threatened in the wild. In fact, their meat and eggs are so popular that in many parts of the world that the birds are farmed on an industrial scale.

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