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Collection  >  Order (Birds)  >  Order Information (Galliformes)

Galliformes

Galliformes, Latin gallus (“rooster, cock, male chicken”) and Latin -fōrmis (“-shaped”), means “chicken-shaped”, in reference to the fact that these animals are all chicken-shaped and chicken-related.

Chickens, quails, partridges, pheasants, turkeys, peafowl, grouse, New World quails, guinea fowl, chachalacas, curassows & brush-turkeys

DISTRIBUTION

Widely distributed in subarctic, temperate, and tropical regions. Absent only in Antarctica and some oceanic islands.

SIZE

Their sizes range from small, measuring 15 cm, to rather large, up to 120 cm tall.

MORPHOLOGY

They have rounder bodies and blunt wings, giving them a chicken-like look. Their narrow, rounded wings allow them to fly short distances; they are primarily terrestrial birds, with four-toed feet

Photos

ECOLOGY & HABITAT

They are terrestrial, or arboreal, animals, and many of them would rather walk or run than fly. They are found all over the world in a range of environments, such as grasslands, woods, and deserts. For territoriality, fighting, courting, and communication, they employ vocalizations and visual displays (e.g. pheasants).

DIET

Herbivorous to slightly omnivorous, they feed on a variety of plant and animal material, which may include fruits, seeds, leaves, branches, blooms, roots, lizards, snakes, tiny rodents, insects, snails, worms, and tubers.

Total species known

305

Species in the collection

8

Species in Hong Kong

4

REPRODUCTION

They have a variety of mating habits; some are polygyny or polygynandrous, while others are monogamous. Extensive visual displays of plumage are a part of male courtship behavior. They build nests in trees or on the ground, and they hatch three to sixteen eggs a year, depending on the season and climate where they breed.

REFERENCES

Gill, F. B., Prum, R. O. (2019). Ornithology. W.H. Freeman & Co. Ltd.
Lovette, I. J., Fitzpatrick, J. W. (2016). Handbook of Bird Biology. Wiley-Blackwell.

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