Helmeted Guineafowl
Numida meleagris
Silhouette: Matías Muñoz · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderGalliformes (Landfowl)
- FamilyNumididae (Guineafowl)
- GenusNumida (Helmeted Guineafowl)
- SpeciesNumida meleagris (Helmeted Guineafowl)
About the Helmeted Guineafowl
The helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) is the best known of the guinea fowl bird family, Numididae, and the only member of the genus Numida. It is native to Africa, mainly south of the Sahara, and has been widely introduced, as a domesticated species, into the West Indies, North America, Colombia, Brazil, Australia and Europe.
The helmeted guinea fowl was formally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Phasianus meleagris. In 1764, Linnaeus moved the helmeted guinea fowl to the new genus Numida. The genus name Numida is Latin for "North African".
In the early days of the European colonisation of North America, the native wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was confused with this species. The word meleagris, Greek for guinea fowl, is also shared in the scientific names of the two species, though for the guinea fowl it is the species name, whereas for the turkey, it is the name of the genus and, in inflected form, the former family, Meleagridididae.
The nine recognised subspecies are: The helmeted guinea fowl is a large, 53 to 58 cm (21 to 23 in) bird... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Helmeted Guineafowl in Kaeng Krachan National Park
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Kaeng Krachan National Park
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Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.