Scrubfowl
| Scrubfowl | |
|---|---|
| Orange-footed scrubfowl | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Galliformes |
| Family: | Megapodiidae |
| Genus: | Megapodius Gaimard, 1823 |
| Type species | |
| Megapodius freycinet Gaimard, 1823
| |
| Species | |
|
14 total, 12 extant, see text. | |
The scrubfowl are mound-builders (stocky, medium-large chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae) in the genus Megapodius . They are found from south-east Asia to north Australia and islands in the west Pacific.
They do not incubate their eggs with their body heat in the orthodox way, but bury them. They are best known for building a massive mound of decaying vegetation, which the male attends, adding or removing litter to regulate the internal heat while the eggs hatch.