quelea

quelea
/kwee"lee euh/, n.
any of several African weaverbirds of the genus Quelea, esp. Q. quelea (red-billed quelea), noted for its vast flocks that destroy grain crops.
[1925-30; < NL: genus name (1850; earlier as a species name), perh. alter. of ML qualea quail]

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also called  Red-billed Quelea, or Dioch 

      (species Quelea quelea), small brownish bird of Africa, belonging to the songbird family Ploceidae (order Passeriformes). It occurs in such enormous numbers that it often destroys grain crops and, by roosting, breaks branches. Efforts to control quelea populations with poisons, napalm, pathogens, and electronic devices have had poor success; but dynamiting the dense colonies, which may contain more than two million pairs in less than 50 hectares (125 acres), has achieved local control.

      Queleas breed in thorn-scrub country: every bush and tree for miles around may contain hundreds of their globular nests, which are built by the males (black-faced, with pinkish foreparts at that season). Each pair has two or three young, which within the year may wander hundreds of miles and breed in their turn. The “locust bird” plague has been the indirect and complicated result of human exploitation of marginal land for stock raising and of the large-scale cultivation of grains.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Quelea — Quelea …   Wikipédia en Français

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  • Quelea — Taxobox name = Quelea regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Aves ordo = Passeriformes familia = Ploceidae genus = Quelea genus authority = Reichenbach, 1850 subdivision ranks = Species subdivision = Quelea cardinalis Quelea erythrops… …   Wikipedia

  • quelea — ˈkwēlēə noun Etymology: New Latin, probably from a native name in Africa 1. capitalized : a genus of African weaverbirds 2. s : any bird of the genus Quelea; especially : a red billed bird (Q. quelea) often kept as a cage bird …   Useful english dictionary

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  • quelea — [ kwi:lɪə] noun a brownish African weaver bird. [Genus Quelea: three species.] Origin mod. L., perh. from med. L. qualea quail …   English new terms dictionary

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