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  Profile

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  In flight

Game Birds

Maleo

Macrocephalon maleo

• legendary
• 24 km/h
• Critically Endangered

Buries its eggs in volcanic sand and lets the earth incubate them. The lazy genius of avian parenting.

Population

Roughly 4,000-7,000 breeding pairs per a 2005 estimate (no more recent numeric figure locatable); population continuing to decline and likely lower now — of 142 documented breeding/nesting sites, only 4 are considered non-threatened

Habitat

Tropical lowland and hill forests (up to ~1,000-1,200 m elevation); nests communally in open, sun-warmed sandy areas, volcanic soils, or geothermal ground near beaches, riverbanks, lakeshores, and forest clearings

Fun fact

Maleo chicks hatch from eggs about five times the volume of a chicken egg already fully feathered and able to fly, and after digging up out of the sand nest they receive no parental care at all, immediately fending for themselves.

Range

Endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and the nearby island of Buton

Diet

Fallen fruits and seeds, supplemented with invertebrates (ants, termites, beetles, mollusks, and other invertebrates) found on the forest floor

Size

0.58 m