Social organization of a flock of Helmeted Guineafowl(Numida meleagris)at the Krugersdorp Game Reserve,South Africa

The social organization of marked Helmeted Guineafowl(Numida meleagris) was studied in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve(Gauteng Province,South Africa) during March 1982 to February 1984.Flock members(7-10 guineafowl) did not associate randomly.Helmeted Guineafowl must live in a sociable flock to survive in the wild.The highest ranking male(male A) formed the pivot of the daily activities of the flock,such as determining foraging direction.High ranking males(males A and B) associated closely to repulse conspecific intruders.Breeding females associated more often with the high ranking males during the breeding season.Although a pecking order was established among males,the frequency of agonistic actions within the flock was very low,which suggests that agonistic interactions are limited to maintain cohesion.Adult females remained between the dominant male and the juveniles to minimize victimization.The second highest ranking male(B) took center stage while the dominant male and his female left temporarily to breed and then the rest of the flock clustered around him to maintain the cohesive nature of the flock.Most adults assisted with the brooding of the chicks of the highest ranking male.Flocking is,among other functions,a predator surveillance strategy that enables the Helmeted Guineafowl to forage under conditions with very limited ground cover and to maximize food finding during winter.

Prevalence and burden of gastrointestinal helminths in wild and domestic guineafowls (Numida meleagris) in the Southern Province of Zambia

Objective: To determine the gastrointestinal tract helminthic fauna in domestic and wild guineafowl in Zambia.Methods: Post-mortem and laboratory parasitological examinations for helminth identification and enumeration were conducted on 198 guineafowls(148 domestic and 50 wild) from November 2010 to October 2011.Results: All guineafowls were infested with one or more helminths. Eleven helminth species, namely, Raillietina echinobothrida, Raillietina tetragona, Raillietina cesticillus, Ascaridia galli, Allodapa suctoria, Gongylonema ingluvicola, Tetrameres spp., Heterakis spp., Acuaria spiralis, Syngamus trachea, and Streptocara pectinifera were identified with no trematodes recorded. Mean nematode burden between domestic and wild fowl showed no differences having 113.7 [confidence interval(CI) 98.9-128.6] and 108(CI 76.6-139.5) nematodes respectively. In contrast, female guineafowls had a mean of 151.9(CI 128.4-177.8) nematodes per host which was significantly more than the males that had a mean of 79.6(CI 66.8-94.4). However, there were differences in helminth species richness between domestic and wild guineafowls with domestic guineafowls having more species present at a mean of 4.2(CI 3.91-4.44) than the wild ones at a mean of 3.4(CI 2.92-3.88) but there were no sex differences. Eight of the eleven helminth species co-occurred in domestic and wild fowl and five of the helminth species had higher prevalence in domestic guineafowls.Conclusions: Syngamus trachea, Streptocara pectinifera and Acuaria spiralis are reported for the first time in domestic poultry in Zambia. This study represents the first comparative study of helminths in domestic and wild guineafowls at an interface area and adds to the knowledge base in a discipline where a dearth currently exists.