Guineafowl and New World Quail in North American Zoos

Here I have attempted to make a complete list of guineafowl and New World quail present in American and Canadian collections. Only information 2018 or newer was used. I have excluded the domestic form of the Helmeted Guineafowl. Information on missing holders or species, as well as information on subspecies or populations is welcomed.

Crested Guineafowl (15 species)
Abilene Zoo (pucherani)
Akron Zoo (pucherani)
Binder Park Zoo (pucherani)
Bronx Zoo (pucherani)
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (pucherani)
Fort Worth Zoo (pucherani)
Milwaukee County Zoo (pucherani)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium (pucherani)
Sacramento Zoo
Saint Louis Zoo (pucherani)
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Toledo Zoo and Aquarium (pucherani)
Virginia Zoo at Norfolk (pucherani)
Woodland Park Zoo
Zoo Atlanta (pucherani)

Helmeted Guineafowl (_ holders)*
Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo (galeatus)

Vulturine Guineafowl (6 holders)
Fort Wayne Children's Zoo
Houston Zoo
Oregon Zoo
Philadelphia Zoo
The Living Desert
Woodland Park Zoo

Montezuma Quail (2 holders)
Buttonwood Park Zoo
Toledo Zoo and Aquarium

Black-breasted Wood-Quail (1 holder)
Dallas World Aquarium

California Quail (2 holders)
Aggieland Safari
Oakland Zoo

Gambel's Quail (4 holders)
North Carolina Zoo
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
The Maritime Aquarium
ZooAmerica

Northern Bobwhite (14 holders)
Akron Zoo
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Brookfield Zoo
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Discovery Place Nature
Fort Worth Zoo
Indianapolis Zoo
Kaleideum North
Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens
Oklahoma City Zoo
Saint Louis Zoo
Save Our Seabirds
South Carolina Aquarium
Virginia Aquarium

Elegant Quail (1 holder)
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium (bensoni)

*It is extremely difficult to tell which facilities keep wild-type birds and which ones keep domestic-types, so I am sure there are more holders than this. I would only like to add holders that are confirmed to have wild-type birds to be added to this list.

 

Brookfield and Cleveland for Helmeted. Reichenowi subspecies i believe are kept in Floridian and Texan collections. Houston, San Antonio, and Tampa and Miami I think. Lincoln Park Zoo has Pucherani. Brights zoo for Vulturine guineafowl.

 

Are Brookfield and Cleveland confirmed wild-type?

 

The North Carolina zoos Gambels Quail died last year actually.

 

Noting here so I don't forget - I just found out SDZ keeps Stone Partridge.

 

Northern Bobwhites are also kept at the Flint RiverQuarium.

Helmeted Guineafowl are also kept at the Kansas City Zoo. They were also once kept at the San Diego Zoo at Africa Rocks, in the Trumpeter Hornbill exhibit, but at some point were phased out and replaced by Yellow-Necked Francolins. I have confirmed that both zoos I mentioned above hold wild-type guineafowl.

 

Brights Zoo has vulturine guineafowl.

 

Kansas City has wild type helmeted guineafowl?

 

Yes they do. They keep a flock of them in the African Savanna exhibit, and share their space with Scimitar-Horned Oryx, Addax, Common Eland, Lesser Kudu, Springbok, & Gray Crowned Crane. I’m pretty sure the guineafowl are wild-type, since they appear to have the plumage of wild birds.

 

Nope, Kansas City's are domestic guineas, as are Brookfield's and Cleveland's.

If there is a Savanah exhibit with free roaming Helmeted Guineafowl, its domestic birds 100% of the time.

True wild type Helmeted Guineafowl are INCREDIBLY rare in North American collections, and there is only one subspecies represented, that being the Reichenow's, and they are becoming increasingly rare. Sylvan Heights Bird Park holds them. One or two other public collections might still as well. In private hands, they've dwindled down to perhaps 3-5 people still breeding them. Maybe one or two more, but I doubt it.

 

Really? Wow, I didn't know wild variants were so rare! How can you tell the difference between domestic and wild guineafowl? I know that some can have white feathers so that's a dead giveaway, but the ones I saw at Kansas City had the exact same plumage as wild ones.

 

What collections do you know of that hold true wild-type Helmeted Guineafowl?

 

Dallas zoo has vulturine guineafowl
Lake Superior zoo has northern bobwhite quail

 

I enjoy racing the Guineafowl at the Fort Worth Zoo.

 

I couldn’t find information anywhere about these birds being kept here, so do you know if they are still alive and if so, where are they located in the zoo?

 

They were at least present in January of 2020:

Benson's Quail - ZooChat

 

while posted in January of 2020, the photo was actually taken October 2018.

 

Brevard Zoo keeps Northern Bobwhite and Crested Guineafowl

 

Do you know what exhibit? I visited October 2018 and didn't see them, or a sign for them. Just mountain quail.

 

In the image description, it says these were in the Desert Dome. I don't know where they were kept in there though, maybe free-roaming?