Bulwer's pheasant

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Bulwer's pheasant
Wild adult male in Sabah, Malaysia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Lophura
Species:
L. bulweri
Binomial name
Lophura bulweri
(Sharpe, 1874)
Synonyms

Lobiophasis bulweri

Bulwer's pheasant (Lophura bulweri), also known as Bulwer's wattled pheasant, the wattled pheasant or the white-tailed wattled pheasant, is a

IUCN
.

Etymology

Bulwer's pheasant belongs to the order

type specimen to the British Museum.[2]

Description

Illustration of a female (left) and male (center) by John Gould from Birds of Asia, (1850 - 1883).

Bulwer's pheasant is sexually dimorphic. Males have a total length of about 80 centimetres (31 in), and are black-plumaged with a maroon breast, crimson legs, a pure white tail of long, curved feathers, and bright blue facial skin with two wattles that conceal the sides of its head. Females have a total length of about 55 centimetres (22 in), and are an overall dull brown colour with red legs and blue facial skin.

Distribution and habitat

Bulwer's pheasant is

rainforests
and rarely visiting the lowlands below an altitude of 300 metres (980 ft). The diet consists mainly of fruits, worms, and insects.

Status

Bulwer's pheasant is listed as

forest fires. Local hunting is also thought to undermine the birds population. Further, captive breeding programs aimed at preserving the species have met with little success.[4] John Roach from National Geographic offers another explanation for their decline in numbers by saying "the birds themselves seem to find each other somewhat less than appealing" in speaking with ornithologist John Rowden of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City and curator of animals at the Central Park Zoo.[4]

Captivity

This species is very rarely kept in zoos due to mating problems. The only western zoos to house the species are

Lophura. In Pairi Daiza
two males arrived in 2018, which made the zoo at the time the only one in Europe with this species in its collection. This individual has, however, died since, in 2022; due to a fox attack.

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679278A92808853.en
    . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ISSN 0374-5481
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-906780-56-2
    .
  4. ^ a b Roach, John (6 April 2005). "Vanishing Borneo Pheasants Look Great but Won't Mate". news.nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2005. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  5. ^ "Pheasant love works in the wild, not New York". The Natal Mercury. 16 August 2000. Retrieved 2017-11-13.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bulwer%27s_pheasant&oldid=1185914541"