mallee fowl

(Animals) an Australian megapode, Leipoa ocellata, that allows its eggs to incubate naturally in a sandy mound

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

mallee fowl - Australian mound bird; incubates eggs naturally in sandy mounds

leipoa, Leipoa ocellata, lowan

megapode, mound bird, mound-bird, scrub fowl, mound builder - large-footed short-winged birds of Australasia; build mounds of decaying vegetation to incubate eggs

genus Leipoa - mallee fowl

mallee hen - adult female mallee fowl

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In his foreword, Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe believes this book rates with other natural history classics such as Ratcliffe's Flying Fox and Drifting Sand, Frith's The Mallee Fowl: the bird that makes an incubator and Rolls' They All Ran Wild.

The red kangaroo in central Australia: An early account by A. E. Newsome

For himself, he adopts the mallee fowl. The Australian coat of arms portrays the emu and kangaroo as our Australian totem.

Who shares wins (WSW)

But if you're a male mallee fowl from Australia (like the bird in the picture above), you've got a hot option: Build a nest that makes its own heat.