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Genus Numida
Helmeted Guineafowl - It breeds in warm, fairly dry and open habitats with scattered shrubs and trees such as savanna or farmland. The nest is a well-hidden, generally unlined scrape and a clutch is normally 6-12 eggs which the female incubates for 26-28 days. Nests containing larger numbers of eggs are generally believed to be the result of more than one hen using the nest; eggs are large and an incubating bird could not realistically cover significantly more than a normal clutch. Domestic birds at least, are notable for producing extremely thick-shelled eggs that are reduced to fragments as the chicks hatch, rather than leaving two large sections and small chips from where any chick has removed the end of the egg. The chicks are cryptically coloured and rapid wing growth enables them to flutter onto low branches barely a week after hatching. These guineafowl live as long as 12 years in the wild.