The Megapode Fowl

The next part of our excursion involves a two-hour journey by air to the northern island of New Britain. Soon we arrive at the Cape Hoskins area, with its sulphurous hot springs. These are the egg-laying grounds of a unique type of megapode, or junglefowl, which belongs to the wild fowl family called Megapodius freycinet. Incidentally, megapode means “big feet.”

What a bleak and desolate area we see before us! Hot water is spouting from steaming geysers, and deep holes reverberate to the sound of boiling mud. Yes, there is an enormous amount of subterranean heat to warm the incubation tunnels made by the megapode hens. On the fringe of the hot-spring area we can see the forest in which the megapodes do their mating.

Look at that dull-brown henlike bird scratching the warm ground under that tree. Watch how she tunnels with her big feet deep into the volcanically heated soil. She will dig six or seven tunnels close together and extending about four feet (1.2 meters) below the surface. Then she will lay about 10 eggs in each tunnel. Finally, she will fill the tunnels with soil and leave the eggs there for incubation. That will be the end of her role in the breeding of her chicks.

Well, then, what happens to the chicks? This is another unique feature of the megapode. In from six to nine weeks the chicks will hatch and then scratch their way to the surface of the ground and run into the scrub. They will be well developed, covered with feathers and able to fly within 24 hours. Yes, they will be capable of caring for themselves from the time that they emerge from their underground hatcheries!

Wildlife ecologists are concerned that these unique birds are in danger of disappearing. Why? Companies have purchased the rights to cut the timber in large tracts of the surrounding forests. Since these forests provide the habitat for these wild fowl, the extensive clearing of timber places this interesting species in danger.

[Picture on page 23]

megapode