Unlike many Old World cuckoos, coucals are not brood parasites, though they do have their own reproductive peculiarity: all members of the genus are (to varying degrees) sex-role reversed, so that the smaller male provides most of the parental care.

Male pheasant coucals (Centropus phasianinus) invest in building the nest, incubate for the most part and take a major role in feeding the young.

[2] The genus Centropus was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger.

[3] The type species was subsequently designated as the Senegal coucal by George Robert Gray in 1840.

[10] Many are opportunistic predators, Centropus phasianus is known to attack birds caught in mist nets[11] while white-browed coucals Centropus superciliosus are attracted to smoke from grass fires where they forage for insects and small mammals escaping from the fire.