The Malleefowl happens to be a solitary species with length 60 cm and a weight ranging from 1.5–2.5 kg. It is a terrestrial bird usually seen walking slowly along the ground, picking at items of food such as flowers, seeds and insects from among the leaf litter, and sometimes scratching at the ground with its feet to uncover food. The Malleefowl loves to inhabit semi-arid mallee habitats, especially those dominated by multi-stemmed mallee eucalypts.

Usually, its eggs are laid in a nest formed in a crater in a mound of leaf litter, and soil raked in from the surrounding area with the birds’ feet. Heat is generated from the decomposition of the organic matter, and it is used for incubating the eggs. Interestingly, the parents scrape material onto or off the mound to open or close the mound so as to regulate its temperature. The male usually checks the temperature of the mound by probing it with his bill. The chicks, after being hatched, can leave the mound unaided.

This bird usually occurs in mallee eucalypt woodlands with a dense but discontinuous canopy and varied shrubby understorey. Occasionally, they do occur in other types of dry eucalypt forests. These birds are endemic to semi-arid sections of southern mainland Australia.
Unfortunately, this species is endangered in a number of areas. It is particularly threatened by fragmentation of much of its habitat by agricultural development. This tends to fragment the Malleefowl populations. Upon fragmentation, the birds become increasingly threatened by catastrophic events such as bushfires. Furthermore, adults, chicks and eggs are all vulnerable to predation by introduced predators, especially foxes. It’s been realised that in small isolated populations, the effects may be significant and may lead to local extinctions. Furthermore, overgrazing by introduced herbivores, especially goats or rabbits, may cause the chicks to starve.