It inhabits lowland and hill rainforest, up to at least 1,065 m, and man-modified habitats when travelling to coastal nesting grounds. It nests communally, which is hypothesised to be an evolutionary strategy for satiating natural egg predators (Gorog et al. 2005), at traditional sites, typically sandy beaches, lakeshores and riverbanks. Females lay 8-12 eggs in pits, heated by solar and/or geothermal radiation, over a 2-3 month period, peaking markedly at some localities during the regionally variable dry season. The eggs (averaging 16% of adult female body weight) comprise 61-64% yolk, and when laid are left to incubate (for 2-3 months) and hatch with no further parental support. The young take up to c.2 days to tunnel to the surface after hatching, emerging ready to fly.

Macrocephalon maleo is endemic to Sulawesi and Buton Islands, Indonesia (Prawiradilaga 1997, Dekker et al. 2000, BirdLife International 2001). Of 149 nesting grounds considered to be active within the past three generations (since 1983), only 47 are currently considered active (Summers et al. in prep.). At least 33 additional sites have become abandoned but the timing is uncertain (M. Summers in litt. 2021). Consequently the species is suspected to have been lost from significant parts of the previously occupied range. The rapid decline was already noted by the start of the 2000s (Butchart & Baker 2000, Baker 2002, Gorog et al. 2005). On Buton, the three occupied sites are all at risk of abandonment (Froese & Mustari 2019).
Remaining strongholds of the population are the Bogani landscape (incorporating Bogani-Nani Wartnabone National Park and surrounding forested areas), where conservation interventions have stabilised numbers at some nesting grounds (H. Bashari in litt. 2021) and at Tompotika, Central Sulawesi numbers have increased in recent years due to community-based conservation (Tasirin et al. 2021). 

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix I. It has been protected under Indonesian law since 1972. The species was included in a status survey and 2000-2004 conservation action plan for Megapodes. Nesting ground surveys were made in North, Central and South East Sulawesi between 1990 and 2000. Over 50% of known nesting grounds (chiefly inland sites) are located inside protected areas, the most important being Lore Lindu National Park, Morowali Nature Reserve, and Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park. Effective conservation programmes have been implemented at the Tambun and Hungayono nesting grounds, where hatchery projects and improved guard patrolling have led to greatly increased hatching rates, at Taima (Libuun) near Tompotika in Central Sulawesi, and at the Pakuli/Saluki complex at Lore Lindu  and the Tanjung Matop near Toli-toli (D. Neville in litt. 2004, M. Summers in litt. 2006). At the nesting ground in Libuun, Tompotika, Central Sulawesi, the Alliance for Tompotika Conservation (AlTo) has partnered with the village of Taima since 2006 to provide year-round protection for Maleos (M. Summers in litt. 2012). The project employs teams of permanent local staff and villagers to guard the nesting ground and record data. AlTo also provides community benefits to the village for its participation in the project, as well as an ongoing Outreach and Awareness campaign promoting Maleo conservation in schools and villages throughout the Tompotika area and in the city of Luwuk, where it has received government endorsement. Since the project began in 2006, all poaching has essentially ended at Libuun, and the number of adult Maleos returning to the nesting ground to lay has tripled; often during the high season more than 30 birds are present at a time. Another project in the Tangkoko-DuaSaudara Nature Reserve is run by the Tangkoko Ecotourism Guides Club, and involves the clearing of dense secondary growth, replanting of trees, and the re-establishment and monitoring of a viable nesting population (van As 2007). In May 2007, work by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park on the management of three nesting grounds saw the facilitated hatching and release of their 4,000th chick (Tasirin 2007), while the release of the 5,000th was expected in 2009 (WCS 2009). In 2009, it was reported that a 14-ha stretch of beach had been purchased by Pelestari Alam Liar dan Satwa (PALS: Wildlife and Wildlands Conservation), with the assistance of the Wildlife Conservation Society and external donors, to protect a nesting area for the species (WCS 2009).


Conservation Actions Proposed
Strengthen the capacity of conservation agencies and government to prevent illegal activities in formally protected areas and establish new management plans to realistically address conservation issues in national parks and nature reserves. Prioritise the protection of active and threatened nesting grounds over translocation of eggs to recolonise abandoned nesting grounds, which has been successfully implemented at some sites and should remain a tool for the future. Keep nesting grounds free from predators, human disturbance and invasive vegetation, and reforest adjacent areas (Gorog et al. 2005). Extend protected area status to forest corridors connecting nesting grounds and non-breeding areas. Expand management activities in protected areas, particularly scrub clearance at nesting sites. Initiate Maleo-based conservation activities in Paluki and Saluki, Central Sulawesi. Renew community-based protection initiatives. Monitor the effectiveness of hatcheries and other conservation measures and optimize egg protection strategies. Monitor daily numbers of birds laying at as many colonies as possible. Conduct more intensive research to establish its distribution and the extent of gene flow between nesting grounds. Conduct a Sulawesi-wide awareness-raising campaign to discourage Maleo egg consumption and use the species as a flagship for forest conservation.