Galliformes is an order of birds containing turkeys, grouse, chickens, quails, and pheasants. About 256 species are found worldwide.
These birds vary in size from the diminutive Asian Blue Quail (Coturnix chinensis) at 12.5 centimetres (5 in) long and weighing 28 to 40 grams (1 to 1.4 oz) to the largest extant Galliform species, the North American Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), wild specimens of which may weigh as much as 14 kilograms (about 30.5 lb) and may exceed 120 centimetres (47 in).
The Galliform bird species with the largest wing-span is most likely the Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus). Most Galliform genera are large in body with thick necks and moderately long legs and with rounded wings. Grouse, pheasants, francolins, and partridges are typical in their outwardly corpulent silhouettes.
Adult male Galliform birds have a sharp horny spur on the back of each leg, which they use for fighting.
Some Galliformes are adapted to grassland habitats and these genera are remarkable for their long, thin necks, long legs and large, wide wings. Thus Wild Turkey, Crested Fireback Pheasant, typical peafowl and Vulturine Guineafowl are outwardly similar in their convergent body types.
Vegetarian and slightly omnivorous genera are typically stoutly built and have short thick bills primarily adapted for foraging on the ground for rootlets or the consumption of other plant material such as heather shoots. The young birds will also take insects.
Peafowl, junglefowl and most of the sub-tropical pheasant genera have very different nutritional requirements from typical Palearctic genera. The Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus) has been observed digging in the rotting wood of deadfall in a similar manner to woodpeckers, even bracing itself with aid of its squared tail.
These birds vary in size from the diminutive Asian Blue Quail (Coturnix chinensis) at 12.5 centimetres (5 in) long and weighing 28 to 40 grams (1 to 1.4 oz) to the largest extant Galliform species, the North American Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), wild specimens of which may weigh as much as 14 kilograms (about 30.5 lb) and may exceed 120 centimetres (47 in).
The Galliform bird species with the largest wing-span is most likely the Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus). Most Galliform genera are large in body with thick necks and moderately long legs and with rounded wings. Grouse, pheasants, francolins, and partridges are typical in their outwardly corpulent silhouettes.
Adult male Galliform birds have a sharp horny spur on the back of each leg, which they use for fighting.
Some Galliformes are adapted to grassland habitats and these genera are remarkable for their long, thin necks, long legs and large, wide wings. Thus Wild Turkey, Crested Fireback Pheasant, typical peafowl and Vulturine Guineafowl are outwardly similar in their convergent body types.
Vegetarian and slightly omnivorous genera are typically stoutly built and have short thick bills primarily adapted for foraging on the ground for rootlets or the consumption of other plant material such as heather shoots. The young birds will also take insects.
Peafowl, junglefowl and most of the sub-tropical pheasant genera have very different nutritional requirements from typical Palearctic genera. The Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus) has been observed digging in the rotting wood of deadfall in a similar manner to woodpeckers, even bracing itself with aid of its squared tail.
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