Nicobar megapode may be used by more than one pair of birds. Microbial activity is the primary source of heat within mounds for incubation. The incubation period is approximately 70–80 days varying based on the incubation temperature. The young birds hatch fully feathered, and as soon as the feathers dry up, can fly. They do not need any parental care and join the group immediately. In the 1900s, eggs taken to Calcutta zoo hatched and the chicks, reared on a diet of termites, grew very tame. Nicobar megapode The Nicobar megapode or Nicobar scrubfowl ("Megapodius nicobariensis") is a megapode found in some
Tongan megapode in Polynesia. Similar extinctions occurred in Fiji and New Caledonia, which apparently had three species in prehistory. The species itself once had a more widespread distribution, occurring across most of Tonga, Samoa and Niue. The cause of all these extinctions and declines was the arrival of humans on the islands, and the associated predation on adults and particularly eggs, as well as predation by introduced species. On Niuafo'ou the small human population and remoteness of its habitat probably saved the species. The only megapode to survive human arrival in Western Polynesia, "the megapode nesting grounds were carefully controlled by the