Helmeted Guineafowl

• comportamientoIt lives in groups and calls loudly in alarm at a predator, which is why some African farms keep it alongside other poultry as an early-warning system.
• It is kept on farms across half the world as a tick control: a flock works systematically over the ground eating ticks, including those that carry Lyme disease, and several studies have measured notable reductions.
• It makes an excellent alarm system: the racket it makes at any intruder, snakes included, is used as a warning on farms in Africa and the Americas.
• Although it flies poorly and close to the ground, it always sleeps in trees, and the flocks go up to the same branches every evening.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Savannah, dry scrub, open woodland and farmland of sub-Saharan Africa

Birth weight

Precocial: born covered in down and leaves the nest within a few hours

Size at birth

Precocial: born covered in down and leaves the nest within a few hours

Sexual maturity

12 months

Gestation / incubation

27 days

Litter / clutch size

9

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numida_meleagris

Best time: All year round in sub-Saharan Africa, by day; it works the ground in noisy flocks and goes up into the trees to roost.