GUINEAFOWLS Star-spangled feathered icons
Helmeted guineafowls (Numida meleagris) need little introduction due to their abundance and widespread distribution.
They have been domesticated since the time of the Romans and have over time been introduced almost worldwide. In Africa indigenous forms are absent only from the Namib and Sahara deserts and from the Central African rain forests.
In South Africa, they can be found almost anywhere, but they are rare to absent in the arid western environments like the Karoo and Kgalagadi.
“They have been domesticated since the time of the Romans and have over time been introduced almost worldwide.”
They have a lesser-known cousin, the crested guineafowl (), which has a rather restricted range in South Africa, occurring only from the Soutpansberg area, down the Limpopo Valley into northern Kruger and along the coastal strip down through Mozambique, Swaziland and into northern KwaZulu-Natal. In the Kruger they
