Guinea Fowl

Guinea Fowl, common name for six species of birds native to Africa; one species also occurs on Madagascar and other Indian Ocean islands. The sexes are alike in color: mostly black, dotted in all except of two species of one genus with small, light-colored spots. The head and upper neck are bare, but two species of a second genus have a bushy tuft of feathers on the crown.

The helmeted guinea fowl is the most widely distributed species, and has several subspecies distinguished by the size, shape, and color of the wattles at the corner of the mouth, and by the size and shape of the bony “helmet” on the crown. The western African subspecies has long been domesticated, and introduced wild-type populations are found in Arabia and the West Indies.

Domestic guinea fowl are nervous and noisy birds, and are therefore not widely raised commercially. On small farms and in some large chicken farms they act as alarms, raising a clamor in the presence of predators.

The two guinea fowl with small, light-colored spots inhabit dense, primary forest in western Africa. The white-breasted guinea fowl, black with a broad white collar, is considered one of the most endangered species of Africa because of habitat destruction and hunting pressure. The black guinea fowl is rare, but has a larger range.

The largest and most ornate species is the vulturine guinea fowl, of open scrubby country in eastern Africa. It has a cape of long hackle feathers extending from the lower neck to the breast. These feathers are white, edged with black and bright cobalt blue. This species may be readily seen in the nonbreeding season in flocks of up to 30 individuals.

Scientific classification: Guinea fowl belong to the family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes. They are sometimes placed in their own family, Numididae. The species with a bushy tuft of feathers on the crown are classified in the genus Guttera. The helmeted guinea fowl is classified as Numida meleagris, its western African subspecies as Numida meleagris galeata, and the white-breasted guinea fowl as Agelastes meleagrides. The black guinea fowl is classified as Agelastes niger (sometimes Phasidus niger), and the vulturine guinea fowl as Acryllium vulturinum.