| Linguistics |
| Actual scientific name : |
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Numida meleagris marungensis |
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| Old scientific name : |
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Numida meleagris marungensis |
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| French name : |
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Pintade commune |
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| English name : |
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Helmeted Guineafowl |
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| Vernacular name : |
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| Nkanga, dikangala (Kiluba); nkanga (Kisonge) ; dikangala (Tshiluba) ; li-kanga (Kitabwa) ; Ikanga (Kilamba); khanga (Kitshok) ; kanga (Lwéna) ; mbangala (Lunda) ; Ikanga; likanga; jeune = impupukira (Kibemba) | |
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| Zoology |
| Call : |
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| Description : |
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Its black plumage finely spotted with white, its bare casque on the crown and its wattles renders this bird unmistakable. |
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| Habitat : |
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This guineafowl is omnipresent in Katanga. |
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| Behaviour : |
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Often tamed, it wanders in villages. In the bush, it is often seen in flocks of tens. Does not fly except to reach the perch it sleeps in. It is at the end of the end, during the gathering on perches that one can hear its characteristic call. |
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| Diet : |
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Seeds, insects, roots thet they find by scrapping the soil. They sometimes visit fields. |
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| Life history : |
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Nests on the ground and lay a large qyuantity of eggs (up to 20). Nidification takes place at the end of the rainy season. |
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| Distribution in Katanga : |
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| History, Ethnology, Sociology |
| Interactions with humans : |
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Guineafowl's meat is a taboo for leprous people who could get sick again if they ate it (for the Bemba and the Lamba). |
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| Taboos : |
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A famous divination's method by the Lunda was carried out with a tortoise's shell. In the shell filled with magical products one stuck, in the back orifice, a guineafowl's feather. The seer who was holding the feather guided the tortoise either towards the red spot or towards the white spot previously made on the floor to get an answer to the question he was asking. This divinatory method is similar to the one used by european mediums who use a board that moves on an alphabet and that dictates answers. |
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| Legends, believes, folklore : |
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| Fishing, hunting : |
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Game appreciated by sportive hunters. |
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| Feeding : |
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Its meat is consumed, with a preference for young which meat is tender. |
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| Breeding, taming : |
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Often tamed in villages. |
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| Uses of skin or other body parts : |
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Traditionally the guineafowl's feather, because of its color black spotted with white, is often used as a symbol of antagonism between right and wrong. |
Warning :
This database was established according to official pieces of work and with the help of famous scientists. However, there might be some errors.
The vernacular names were collected in the field and in the colonial literature from the first part of the 20th century. The monks who established the first dictionaries were not necessarily informed naturalists. Therefore, errors must have been committed.
We invite everyone who could help us to improve this working tool to contact us in order to correct us and share her/his knowledge with us.
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ROOT > Vertebrata (Vertebrates) > Aves (Birds) > Galliformes > Numididae (guineafowls)
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