Species Fact Profile: Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo)

                                                                Maleo

                                           Macrocephalon maleo (S. Muller, 1846)

Range:  Sulawesi and Buton Islands (Indonesia)

Habitat: Tropical Lowlands, Hill Forest

Diet: Fruits, Seeds, Small Invertebrates

Social Grouping: Monogamous pair

Reproduction: Monogamous for life.  Breed year round, laying 8-12 eggs over the course of a year.  Females lay eggs in deep holes on a sandy beach, rather than incubating them in a nest (sometimes cover hole with debris to camouflage it).  Females will nest communally.  Incubation 2-3 months.  Chicks dig their way to the surface and are fully independent at birth, capable of flight.  Mature at 2 years

Lifespan: 20+ years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Critically Endangered.  CITES Appendix I

• Body length 55-60 centimeters
• Plumage is primarily black on the back, pinkish-white on the underparts.  The face is bare with yellow skin; the beak is reddish-orange, the feet bluish-gray.  On top of the head there is a bony, dark blue casque.  Sexes are identical; juveniles are duller than adults, with smaller, less pronounced casques
• A maleo egg is approximately five times the size of a chicken egg and weigh about 15% of the female's total body weight
• Predators include monitor lizards, pythons, wild pigs, and felids
• Genus name means "large headed," in reference to the crest.  Species and common name come from the Halmahera name for the species
• Primary threat is loss of habitat, especially isolation of the adult birds' habitat and the beaches which they use as nesting grounds (development of beach front property).  Have to pass through several areas of human-modified landscape to lay their eggs.  Some hunting, egg collection.  Birds will abandon nest sites which have been subject to too much disturbance