Vulturine Guineafowl
Acryllium vulturinum
Description: Vulturine guineafowl have a black base color. They have white spots covering their wings to their tails, with iridescent blue feathers interspersed on their breast and back. The head of the vulturine guineafowl does not have feathers.
General Information: Vulturine guineafowl find food by scratching in the ground, or by moving through the grass. They roost in low-growing trees. They feed in the morning and rest during midday in the dense scrub.
Habitat: Dry scrubland, scrubland dotted with trees.
Range: East Africa, Kenya, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Reproduction: Vulturine guineafowl normally lay 13 to 18 eggs. They usually nest between April to June. Incubation is usually 28 days.
Diet:
In the Wild: Seeds, fruits, green leaves, roots, bulbs, and invertebrates.
At the Zoo: Smelt, bird of prey diet, wild bird seed, apples, oranges, beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, vitamins, trout chow, mealworms, romaine lettuce, spinach, giraffe chow, dog food.
Interesting Facts: Vulturine guineafowl chicks hatch with a “full head” of down. But after a few weeks, they start going “bald”.