Birds
Vulturine Guineafowl
Acryllium vulturinum · also called vulturine guineafowl
The vulturine guineafowl is the showiest of all guineafowl — a bare, vulture-like head on a long neck, a cobalt-blue breast, and a flowing cape of striped hackles. It also turns out to keep the kind of stable, layered society scientists once thought only big-brained mammals could manage.
Overview
Vulturine guineafowl live in dry savanna and thornbush of northeast Africa, from Ethiopia to Tanzania. About 60–72 cm, with a small bare bluish head, cobalt-blue breast, and a long cape of black-and-white feathers, they forage on the ground for seeds, bulbs, and insects.
A society with structure
Its flocks form stable groups that associate in consistent, non-random ways, a multi-level society documented in few birds and previously thought to need a large brain.
Built for dry country
It gets most of its water from food alone, ranging far from any surface water, and escapes danger by running as a flock rather than flying.
Status
The vulturine guineafowl is Least Concern, widespread and locally common across suitable dry habitat.
Vulturine Guineafowl: common questions
Why is it called the vulturine guineafowl?
The name refers to the bird's head and neck, which are small, largely bare of feathers, and set on a long thin neck, giving it a distinct resemblance to a vulture even though the two are not closely related. As with vultures, this bare-headed, long-necked appearance is thought to be an adaptation to the bird's environment and lifestyle, helping it stay cooler while active in hot, open country and keeping the head cleaner while feeding on the ground in dusty conditions, though the vulturine guineafowl is a plant-and-insect forager rather than a scavenger.
What makes the vulturine guineafowl's social behaviour unusual?
Research on wild vulturine guineafowl has shown that they live in stable social groups whose membership stays consistent over long periods, and that these groups then associate with one another in a structured way, with certain groups repeatedly choosing to spend time near particular other groups rather than mixing randomly. This kind of multi-level society, where stable smaller units combine into larger, non-random social networks, had generally been documented only in mammals with relatively large brains, such as primates, elephants, and dolphins, so finding it in a guineafowl challenged the assumption that complex, layered societies require exceptional cognitive ability.
How does the vulturine guineafowl survive in such dry country?
It is well adapted to hot, arid savanna and thornbush where standing water is scarce or seasonal, and it can meet most or all of its water needs from the moisture contained in the seeds, bulbs, roots, green shoots, and insects it eats, allowing flocks to live and forage far from any water source for extended periods. Its bare head and neck help with heat regulation while it is active during the day, and its habit of moving and foraging in cohesive groups provides many eyes to watch for predators in open terrain where cover is limited.
Can the vulturine guineafowl fly?
It can fly, but only reluctantly and for short distances, and it spends almost its entire life on the ground, walking and running as it forages and moving between roost sites on foot with the rest of its group. When threatened by a predator, its first response is almost always to run rapidly through vegetation as a coordinated flock rather than to take off, and it will generally only burst into brief, low, noisy flight as a last resort when a predator gets too close, landing again and resuming running as soon as it can.