Where is the Nicobar megapode found?

Only in the Nicobar Islands of India. Zoological Survey of India scientists describe two subspecies: one in the Nancowry group, north of the Sombrero Channel, and one in the Great Nicobar group to the south. Older records say it is absent from Car Nicobar and Chaura islands. It nests mainly in coastal forest close to the beach.

Does the Nicobar megapode sit on its eggs?

No. It lays its eggs inside a large mound of sand, soil, coral bits and rotting plant material. A study on Great Nicobar found that heat from microbes breaking down this material keeps the egg chamber at about 32 °C. The eggs took about 75 days on average to hatch.

What is the IUCN status of the Nicobar megapode?

It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, according to a 2023 chapter by Zoological Survey of India scientists. The same chapter says it is protected under Schedule I of India's Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. BirdLife now names the species the Nicobar Scrubfowl in its factsheet.

Nicobar Megapode: Habitat, Nesting and Conservation Status

Q: How did the 2004 tsunami affect the Nicobar megapode?

Badly, because the bird nests near the shore. The ZSI chapter says more than 850 incubation mounds on Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and nearby islands, and about 300 in the Nancowry group, were lost. Megapode Island, once a nesting site, was submerged by the tsunami.

Q: What does the Nicobar megapode eat?

It is omnivorous. A 2005 study on Great Nicobar, using five flushed stomachs, ranked seeds of the Macaranga peltata tree first, followed by cockroaches, snails and leaf litter. Beetles, ants, grasshoppers and hermit crabs were also eaten. It feeds by scratching and raking debris on the forest floor.

The Nicobar megapode (Megapodius nicobariensis) is a ground bird found only in India’s Nicobar Islands. It does not sit on its eggs. Instead, it buries them in a large mound of sand and rotting leaves, and natural heat hatches them. It is a threatened species that nests close to the shore.

This bird features in our pillar guide to animal species and their role in ecosystems as an island endemic with an unusual way of breeding.

How do you identify a Nicobar megapode?

Megapodes are a family of ground-living birds called Megapodiidae, in the order Galliformes, the same order as chickens and pheasants. The ZSI chapter says they use heat from their surroundings, rather than body heat, to incubate their eggs. It counts 22 living megapode species worldwide, citing a 1995 monograph.

A 2003 paper in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society calls the Nicobar megapode a monomorphic species. That means males and females look alike. It is a mound builder, like most members of its genus. The same paper says 10 of the 13 species in the genus Megapodius build mounds.

BirdLife International, the IUCN Red List authority for birds, now lists the species as the Nicobar Scrubfowl. Learn both names.

Where does the Nicobar megapode live? Habitat and range

The species is endemic to the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Its nearest relative of the same genus lives over 1,600 km away, according to the ZSI chapter.

Two subspecies are recognised:

M. n. nicobariensis lives north of the Sombrero Channel, in the Nancowry group.
M. n. abbotti lives south of the channel, on Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and nearby islets.

Older records cited by ZSI say the bird is absent from Car Nicobar and Chaura islands. In surveys from 2015 to 2018, ZSI recorded it on all seven islands of the Nancowry group.

Habitat: The bird depends on coastal forest. ZSI notes that it prefers sandy loam beds near the coast for its nests. The Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) factsheet for Great Nicobar and Little Nicobar calls coastal forest “crucial” to its survival. It adds that on islands, coastal forest is the first habitat to be destroyed under biotic pressure.

Our page on animals of tropical evergreen forests describes Great Nicobar’s other wildlife. The Nicobar Islands also form India’s share of the Sundaland hotspot, explained in biodiversity hotspots in India.

What does the Nicobar megapode eat? Diet and behaviour

The Nicobar megapode is omnivorous, eating both plant and animal food. A 2005 diet study by K. Sivakumar and R. Sankaran, based partly on five flushed stomachs, ranked food items on Great Nicobar by volume:

Rank by volume	Food item
1	Seeds of Macaranga peltata (a tree)
2	Cockroaches; snails
3	Leaf litter
4	Beetles, ants, grasshoppers
5	Pauropods (tiny soil animals), hermit crabs

Like other megapodes, it feeds by scratching and raking debris on the forest floor. The same study found that heavier rain reduced its foraging.

How does the Nicobar megapode breed? Mound nesting

Sivakumar and Sankaran studied 38 mounds at the southern tip of Great Nicobar between 1995 and 1998. They reported results in 2003.

Building the mound

A new mound usually starts at a fallen log, tree stump or decaying tree roots.
The birds dig a pit, or cover the rotting wood with soil and leaf litter raked from around it.
Mounds are made of sand, loam, coral bits and rotting vegetation.
They vary from 10 cm to 2.1 m in height, citing an earlier 1995 study.

How the eggs are kept warm

The paper found that microbial activity is the main source of heat. Microbes breaking down the plant material release warmth, much like a compost heap. Sunlight seemed only to warm the mound’s surface.

At 50-60 cm deep, the mound core averaged 31.94 °C. The forest ground at the same depth averaged 28.72 °C. The average temperature for successful hatching was 32.44 °C.

Eggs and hatching

Feature	Finding (Great Nicobar, 1995-1998)
Peak egg-laying	February to May (dry season)
Gap between two eggs	About 15 days
Eggs per pair per season	1 to 4 (average 2.75)
Incubation period	70 to 81 days (average 74.73)
Hatching success in 1997	57.26%

About 30% of eggs were taken by predators in 1997. The authors suggest that busy mounds may attract predators, especially monitor lizards.

What are the main threats to the Nicobar megapode?

Both the ZSI chapter (2023) and the KBA factsheet list several threats:

Loss of coastal forest. The KBA factsheet says a 35 km strip of forest on Great Nicobar’s south-east coast was cleared for settlers, citing a 1995 study.
Hunting and egg collection by local people, which ZSI still observed during its 2015-2018 surveys.
Predators. ZSI names the robber crab and larger reptiles. It lists the water monitor lizard, reticulated python, Nicobar cat snake and several birds of prey as potential predators.
Roads and development. ZSI names the road from Shastri Nagar to Indira Point. It also cites an older proposal for a free port and a dry dock at the mouth of the Galathea River.
Natural disasters, above all the tsunami of 26 December 2004.

Compare other threatened species in our list of endangered animals in India.

How did the 2004 tsunami affect the Nicobar megapode?

The ZSI chapter calls the megapode one of the worst-affected species in the Nicobar Islands. Citing studies from 2005 and 2007, it says more than 850 incubation mounds on Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and nearby islands were lost. About 300 more were lost in the Nancowry group. These earlier loss figures may include inactive mounds; the table below counts active mounds only.

The chapter’s comparison table tracks active mounds in the Great and Little Nicobar group:

Survey	Active mounds
1994	849
2006	297
2015-2018	125

Megapode Island, once a nesting site, was submerged by the tsunami, according to the same table. In 2015-2018, ZSI recorded 149 active mounds across the Nicobar Islands and detected about 300 birds. It estimated about 400 in all (ZSI, 2023).

What is the conservation status of the Nicobar megapode?

IUCN status: Zoological Survey of India scientists (2023) list it as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Vulnerable is the lowest of the three “threatened” categories. See IUCN Red List categories.

Indian law: The same chapter says the bird is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Protected areas

The KBA factsheet (site last assessed in 2023) has a site description drawn from studies dated 1988 to 2002. It names two national parks, Campbell Bay and Galathea, in the core of the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve. It warns that they protect less than 15% of Great Nicobar’s coast.

Plans linked to the Great Nicobar project

A 2022 reply by the agency behind the Great Nicobar development project says ZSI mapped 102 active mounds on Great Nicobar, 19 inside the project area. In a pending National Green Tribunal case, the applicant’s 2025 filing says the project’s clearance condition mentions 51 active mounds in the project site, 30 to be destroyed.

The same reply describes a proposed megapode sanctuary covering all of Menchal Island (1.29 sq km), with an intention notification issued on 21 April 2022. It also mentions conservation plans submitted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History. WII’s plan covers 10 years of population monitoring, research and community awareness.

Where can you see the Nicobar megapode?

The bird lives only in the Nicobar Islands, mostly in coastal forest near beaches. The ZSI surveys found active mounds at places such as Galathea, Indira Point and Shastri Nagar on Great Nicobar. In the Nancowry group, ZSI found the largest population of the northern subspecies on Bompoka Island.

The KBA factsheet says the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve was designated a tribal reserve for the Shompen and Nicobarese people under a 1956 regulation. Check official rules before planning any trip. For easier birds to see, browse famous bird species around the world, or read about another rare Indian bird, the forest owlet.