Quails are very small birds that belong to the pheasant and partridge species. The have a distinctive body shape with a small stocky body and long pointed wings. There are around 20 different species of quail found around the world, and 70 domestic quails are kept as poultry birds.
Interesting Facts
1) Quail can lay 10 to 20 eggs at one time, hens are able to lay in average of 200 eggs per year.
2) Even though quail have long pointed wings, they can fly only a very short distance.
3) The life span for birds is 3 to 5 years, however 70% of them hardly live to a year.
4) Quail birds move surprisingly fast in the underbrush and can run up to 12 mph when startled.
5) These birds can be notoriously difficult to see as they like to hide in the underbrush. You’ll often hear their distinctive calls instead of seeing them.
6) Quail birds on the “intelligence scale” of birds are at the very end of the list.
7) Their eyes are capable of seeing ultraviolet colours that are invisible for humans.
8) There are approximately 130 kinds of quail alive today.
9) One of the most fascinating (and slightly scary) things about quails is that they sometimes eat poisonous plants such as hemlock or hellebore. Although the quails can eat these plants with no ill effects to themselves, they manage to store the toxins within themselves, which taints their meat. Therefore, when people eat their meat, they become poisoned by them.
10) A quail egg, even with their small size is packed with vitamins and minerals and its nutritional value is three to four times greater than that of chicken egg.