Tongan megapode ruling chief, thus assuring the continued survival of this population." Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. On Niuafo'ou it is most common on the central caldera. The Tongan megapode, like all megapodes, does not incubate its eggs by sitting on them; instead the species buries them in warm volcanic sands and soil and allows them to develop. On islands in former parts of its range without volcanoes it presumably created mounds of rotting vegetation and laid the eggs there. The young birds are capable of flying immediately after hatching. The Tongan megapode is principally threatened by the same
Moluccan megapode Moluccan megapode The Moluccan megapode ("Eulipoa wallacei"), also known as Wallace's scrubfowl, Moluccan scrubfowl or painted megapode, is a small, approximately 31 cm long, olive-brown megapode. The genus "Eulipoa" is monotypic, but the Moluccan megapode is sometimes placed in "Megapodius" instead. Both sexes are similar with an olive-brown plumage, bluish-grey below, white undertail coverts, brown iris, bare pink facial skin, bluish-yellow bill and dark olive legs. There are light grey stripes on reddish-maroon feathers on its back. The young has brownish plumage, a black bill, legs and hazel iris. An Indonesian endemic, the Moluccan megapode is confined to hill and