Scrubfowl – Genus Megapodius

The scrubfowl are stocky, medium-large chicken-like birds found from southeast Asia to north Australia and islands in the west Pacific.

They have small heads and large feet.

Breeding / Nesting

Unlike other birds that brood nest using their body heat, these birds don’t incubate their eggs but bury them instead.

They build massive mounds of decaying vegetation, which the male attends to, adding or removing litter as needed to regulate the internal heat until the young hatch.

Melanesian Megapode or Melanesian Scrubfowl (Megapodius eremita)

The species in taxonomic order are:

 

 

Philippine Megapode (Megapodius cumingii), also known as the Philippine or the Tabon Scrubfowl

Megapode Information … Megapode Photo Gallery

 
 
 
 
 
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Gordon Ramel

Gordon is an ecologist with two degrees from Exeter University. He's also a teacher, a poet and the owner of 1,152 books. Oh - and he wrote this website.

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