I apologise if this qualifies as spam, but does anyone here know if there is a list of the different species of pheasant that are kept, and where they are kept? Thanks in advance for any help.
Captive Pheasant list?
- Thread starter Cassidy Casuar
- Start date
Zootierlist is a good place to start. They cover European zoos
Zootierliste - true pheasants
Zootierliste - peacock pheasants and peafowl
The few species that aren't kept in European zoos are generally kept elsewhere, e.g. Blyth's tragopan (North American zoos, Indian zoos and probably elsewhere), Western tragopan (Sarahan Pheasantry, India), Chinese monal and Sclater's monal (Beijing Breeding Center for Endangered Species and perhaps elsewhere in China), Bulwer's pheasant (Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation and perhaps some kept privately; don't know if the single at San Diego remains but isn't on display), Crested argus (zoos/breeding centers in Vietnam and Malaysia), etc.
The only I can think of where I'm reasonably sure none are in captivity is Tibetan eared pheasant. I don't know if the very small number of Hainan and Bornean peacock pheasants that were in captivity are still around.
Zootierliste - true pheasants
Zootierliste - peacock pheasants and peafowl
The few species that aren't kept in European zoos are generally kept elsewhere, e.g. Blyth's tragopan (North American zoos, Indian zoos and probably elsewhere), Western tragopan (Sarahan Pheasantry, India), Chinese monal and Sclater's monal (Beijing Breeding Center for Endangered Species and perhaps elsewhere in China), Bulwer's pheasant (Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation and perhaps some kept privately; don't know if the single at San Diego remains but isn't on display), Crested argus (zoos/breeding centers in Vietnam and Malaysia), etc.
The only I can think of where I'm reasonably sure none are in captivity is Tibetan eared pheasant. I don't know if the very small number of Hainan and Bornean peacock pheasants that were in captivity are still around.
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as in Crossoptilon harmani? They are kept in Beijing Zoo, perhaps elsewhere.
Yes exactly. Another species taken off the list. The two where I'm not complete certain if they are kept today:
Bornean peacock pheasant was kept at Al Bustan Zoological Centre (and Cikananga Wildlife Center?) at least until 2013. There are also pages suggesting that a few are kept privately in Singapore.
Hainan peacock pheasant was kept at the South China Institute for Endangered Animals at least until 2012.
With the relatively long lifespan of pheasants it is reasonable to assume that both Bornean and Hainan still are kept.
I don't think there are any Chinese monals left at Beijing.
I guess you are confusing the Zoo with the Animal Center. They did have a female backstage in the Zoo in 2012 and it could be gone now. However, I believe several remain at the Animal Center but don't know if they currently are on display. It can be discussed (see last post) if it is good that such a rare species is kept at that place.
There may be Bornean Peacock Pheasant present in private hands in Europe, too - in 2011 Highland Wildlife Park imported and quarantined 8 individuals for the World Pheasant Association. I do not know where they went after leaving quarantine.
no, I know the difference between the Beijing Zoo and the Beijing Breeding Centre For Endangered Species, although I haven't been to the latter. I was just under the impression there were no Chinese monals left at either now. Baboon would be the one who would probably know the answer to that one.
They did indeed all go to private aviculturists, so the species is in captivity but not on public exhibit (alas!).
The Bulwer's Pheasant at San Diego is/was the last one in North America, no?
However, as long as they do well in private aviculture there is always the slight chance the WPA will ask a public collection somewhere to help raise awareness by exhibiting an animal or two
yes, the last in North America. Unless some rich guy has managed to get one or two illegally. The species has had an awful breeding record in captivity with no chicks for decades until the success at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation recently. One can only hope that this will become a regular occurrence at Al Wabra. If anyone can, it may well be them
Bornean is supposedly similar to Malayan in breeding habits (highly sensitive, usually only 1 egg per cycle, parent rearing the chick can be problematic), which is generally considered much more difficult than other peacock pheasants. Though the Malayan is uncommon in captivity it still has a much larger base population than the Bornean. Based on this it may well prove difficult to even maintain the captive Bornean population without a slow but continuous fall in numbers. Sad, both because of its threatened status and because it is one of the most handsome peacock pheasants. In a perfect world they would replace all those captive grey peacock pheasants that are much more common in the wild (no need for ex-situ conservation) and IMO not nearly as handsome.
Captive Pheasant....
The zoo/Avicultural world is missing a trick with Germain's Peacock Pheasant. It gets passed over in favour of Greys and Palawans, but may well be more endangered than the latter. If one tenth of the effort that goes into breeding fancy chickens could be devoted to pheasants.....
The zoo/Avicultural world is missing a trick with Germain's Peacock Pheasant. It gets passed over in favour of Greys and Palawans, but may well be more endangered than the latter. If one tenth of the effort that goes into breeding fancy chickens could be devoted to pheasants.....
It seems that the most common pheasant in zoos is the Indian peafowl. I would be surprised to find a zoo that doesn't have them. The only other pheasants I've seen in zoos are red junglefowl in the Hogle Zoo and Palawan peacock pheasants, golden pheasants, and Reeve's pheasants at the Henry Doorly Zoo. Pheasants are my favorite type of bird that sadly I haven't seen in zoos much. I've always wanted to see Lady Amherst pheasants as well as gray and Ceylon junglefowl. Quite a few pheasant species would be great for northern zoos as there are many that are native to cold areas.
Are you sure? I have visited two zoos that do not house any Peafowl, but both of them house both Domestic Fowl and Helmeted Guinea-fowl.
interestingly, I have heard knowledgeable people expressing doubts over the presence of pure Lady Amherst's pheasants in Europe or America. The Lady Amherst's that commonly are seen in zoos, are kept in the thousands by private keepers and were the basis for the introduced populations in various parts of the world are the result of lineages started a long, long time ago. Initially relatively few birds were available in the aviculture and information on separating female Lady Amherst's and female golden was not easily available. The females are very similar. The two species breed freely together and the hybrid offspring is fertile. After repeated backcrossing, any obvious external features that easily revealed the hybrid origin were deluted and eventually disappeared. They look like Lady Amherst's and may well be e.g. 95% Lady Amherst's but that isn't 100% pure. Regardless of their pedigree they are stunning display animals.
It is similar to red junglefowl of the wild form where most kept actually have genes from domestic chickens in them. In that species there has been a move by serious keepers to get the bird's DNA testet for purity to weed out any impure specimens from breeding programs.
Guineafowl isn't a pheasant. Depending on authority, guineafowl belong in their own family Numididae or subfamily Numidinae in family Phasianidae. As traditionally defined, pheasants are all members of subfamily Phasianinae in family Phasianidae with some placing peafowl, argus and peacock-pheasants in their own subfamily. More recent genetic evidence has moved things around but nothing that places the guineafowl in the pheasants. Although the domestic fowl may be a contender for most common in zoos, one can quetion if dometics should be counted together with the wild species. In any case there are numerous varieties of domestic fowl (Brahma, dwarf silkie, amrock, etc), which dilutes the number of zoos with each.
I am not sure about the status of the Indian peafowl in New Zealand or Australia where all the strict rules on animals imports have resulted in rather different species collections in the zoos. I am quite sure elefante is right at least when it comes to European and North American zoos. In European zoos, the Indian peafowl is not only the most widely kept pheasant but the most widely kept animal. It is currently held at a remarkable 639 facilities.
Blauer Pfau=Indian peafowl Holding-Charts - ZootierlisteHomepage
I did not think so.
I have seen Domestic Fowl be named Gallus gallus domesticus (as opposed to Gallus gallus) before, but I am not sure how reliable that is.
Avian imports are completely illegal in both countries, but New Zealand has a fairly large feral Indian Peafowl population, while Australia might still have some feral individuals on at least one offshore island.
Indian peafowl are common in Australia, with semi-feral populations in some rural areas. Most zoos would have had them and if they don't now, would have made a choice in recent years not to. There are also a limited number of green peafowl around. Other than that there are only a handful of other species in Australia, some quite common in private aviculture, some down to a few specimens. However other than peafowl, pheasants are not widely kept in Australian zoos.