Acryllium vulturinum
Fred and Ethel are are truly a match made in heaven. When one turns left, so does the other. Never more than a few feet apart, Fred and Ethel redefine soul mates. Fred and Ethel are superb worm hunters. When we put meal worms in sand boxes in the aviary to enrich the lives of the birds, Fred and Ethel gobble up more than the other birds combined. See the Vulturine guinea fowl on the Birdcams.
The Vulturine Guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum) is the largest guinea fowl species, and only distantly related to other guinea fowl. Fred and Ethel are so similar that we can’t tell them apart except for their bands! We used to have plants in their aviary, but they demolished each one within hours. We give them fresh greens, but they didn’t understand that the plants were off limits. They must have thought,”Mmmmmm even fresher greens.”
Vulturine guinea fowl are reported to be omniverous. Ours, however, prefer their food in processed pellet form. We found a small snake in the garden and decided to see what the Vulturine guinea fowl would do. We placed the snake in the enclosure and the guinea fowl drew back as if to say, “Yuck! Take that snake away.”
