Pheasants and game birds in U.S. zoos

Pheasants and other game birds belong to the Galliformes, or landfowl, an order of about 290 heavy-bodied, mostly ground-living species. It includes pheasants, peafowl, partridges, turkeys and junglefowl, plus guineafowl in a family of their own. Males of most species are more colorful than females, and the red junglefowl is the ancestor of the chicken.

Most widely held

What makes a game bird

Game birds are the Galliformes, an order of plump, heavy-bodied birds that live mostly on the ground, and many escape predators by running rather than flying. The largest family, Phasianidae, holds 185 species, including pheasants, partridges, junglefowl, turkeys, grouse, Old World quail and peafowl. Guineafowl, New World quail, curassows and the mound-building megapodes sit in separate families of the same order.

Size ranges widely. The king quail weighs about 28 to 40 g (1 to 1.4 oz), while the wild turkey can reach 14 kg (30.5 lb). The peafowl is among the heaviest members of the pheasant family, with a male's train stretching his length to 200 to 230 cm (78 to 90 in).

Showy males, camouflaged females

Most galliforms are sexually dimorphic, and males court with strutting, fanned tails, raised crests and calls. The golden pheasant male can spread an orange-and-black cape across most of his face, and the Himalayan monal shimmers in iridescent green, purple, red and blue. The females of both species are far plainer, in mottled browns.

Displays vary by lineage. Male Cabot's tragopans inflate fleshy blue horns and a throat bib, and the Palawan peacock-pheasant fans his tail sideways to show off its eyespots. Many adult males also carry sharp spurs on the back of the leg for fighting.

Nesting is usually on the ground, in anything from a scrape to a mound of vegetation. Tragopans are the exception in the pheasant family, nesting higher up in trees or bushes.

Telling relatives apart

The helmeted guineafowl looks pheasant-like but belongs to the guineafowl family. Its bare blue head, bony casque and white-spotted grey plumage set it apart, and like all guineafowl it lacks leg spurs.

The crested wood partridge, a compact 25 cm (9.8 in) rainforest bird, stands out for another reason: its chicks are fed bill-to-bill by both parents, unusual for a galliform. Turkeys are native to the Americas, while most other pheasant-family birds are Old World species, with the greatest diversity in Southeast Asia and Africa.

People, poultry and conservation

Galliforms have long been farmed and hunted. The red junglefowl was domesticated into the chicken, now the most widespread poultry, and the wild turkey is the ancestor of the domestic turkey. Pheasants, partridges and quail have been introduced around the world for hunting.

Several species are threatened by human activities. Cabot's tragopan, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, is losing the forest it nests in to farmland and plantations. The Palawan peacock-pheasant lives only on one Philippine island and is hunted and trapped for the pet trade, and it is listed on Appendix I of CITES.

Common questions

  • What counts as a game bird?

    Game birds, or gamefowl, are wild members of the Galliformes, or landfowl, that are hunted as upland game birds. The order includes pheasants, partridges, quail, grouse, turkeys, peafowl, guineafowl and their relatives.

  • What is the largest game bird?

    The North American wild turkey is the largest living galliform, weighing up to 14 kg (30.5 lb) and exceeding 120 cm (47 in). The green peafowl probably has the greatest overall length, thanks to a train of over 1.8 m (6 ft).

  • Is a peacock a pheasant?

    Peafowl belong to the pheasant family, Phasianidae. Strictly, peacock means only the male; the female is a peahen and both together are peafowl.

  • Are guineafowl pheasants?

    No. Guineafowl were once included in the pheasant family but are now placed in their own family, Numididae, within the same order, Galliformes.

  • What bird is the chicken descended from?

    The chicken is the domesticated form of the red junglefowl of Southeast Asia, a member of the pheasant family. The domestic turkey likewise descends from the wild turkey.

  • Can pheasants fly?

    Yes. Galliforms are reluctant flyers, but they have extremely powerful flight muscles and short, rounded wings suited to short-distance flight, and many species escape predators by running rather than flying.

  • Are any pheasants endangered?

    Several pheasant-family species are threatened by human activities. Cabot's tragopan, the Palawan peacock-pheasant and the crested wood partridge are all rated Vulnerable, mainly because of forest loss.

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