Macrocephalon maleo
TAXONOMY
Macrocephalon maleo S. Müller, 1846, Sulawesi. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Gray's brush-turkey, maleofowl; French: Mégapode maléo; German: Hammerhuhn; Spanish: Talégalo Maleo.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
21.7 in (55 cm); females 3.3–3.9 lb (1.50–1.76 kg), males 2.9–3.5 lb (1.34–1.59 kg). Large, striking bird with upperparts deep black and underparts white with strong salmon-pink tinge. Head topped with distinctive black casque. Sexes very similar, though males slightly larger.
DISTRIBUTION
Endemic to island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, though absent from all deforested areas.
HABITAT
Tropical forests, as well as secondary vegetation and plantations.
BEHAVIOR
Shy and wary when approached. Pairs inseparable and will drive other pairs away from favored egg-laying positions.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Omnivorous, feeds on wide variety of fruits, seeds, and invertebrates encountered while foraging on forest floor.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
A burrow-nesting species, using geothermally heated soils in the forest or sun-exposed beaches. Pairs travel to nesting grounds together and share effort in excavating laying hole and chasing away other maleos. Eggs laid at depths of 4–40 in (10–100 cm), at intervals of 10–12 days, the longest interval of any bird.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to rapid population decline and over-exploitation and habitat degradation.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
This charismatic species is an important species to the people of Sulawesi, where its eggs have been harvested for centuries.
