kenspeckle
Active Member
Threatened pheasant species travelling from the UK to India
Wednesday, 09 Jan 2013
The Indian Government and its wildlife authorities have made determined efforts to ensure that some of the country's most endangered species do not slip further towards extinction. They have made specific plans for more than seventy different species. Two of these are members of the pheasant family called tragopans, the males of which have a brilliant red plumage.
The Satyr tragopan and the Temminck's tragopan inhabit high Himalayan mountain slopes and can be found at an altitude of around 3,000m (10,000 ft). The Indian Government has decided to establish conservation breeding groups of these two species in captivity in order that they can provide birds for reintroduction in the future if the need is identified. Previous attempts in India to take birds from the wild to establish the conservation breeding programme have always met with failure because the wild birds find captivity too stressful and seldom live long enough to breed. In the wild, tragopans do not normally breed until they are three years old.
About four years ago the Indian wildlife authorities sought help from The World Pheasant Association (WPA), an organisation which specialises in the conservation of the world's fifty different pheasant species. Members of WPA have considerable expertise in breeding threatened pheasant species as well as a great deal of knowledge of how to preserve the wild birds in their natural habitat. For the past four years, WPA has provided training for zoo staff in Darjeeling and Sikkim, in N. India so that they now have much more knowledge and understanding of how to care for and breed tragopans. In addition, new very large aviaries for the tragopans have been specially designed to suit the needs of the birds and to encourage them to breed naturally.
In the UK, a number of WPA members have bred these two tragopan species successfully and they have donated nine captive bred birds to add to tragopans they have sent previously to the Indian breeding programme. These birds have spent all their lives in captivity so they do not suffer the same stresses as wild caught birds. The nine tragopans have just completed their pre-export quarantine period at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland's Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie and will be flown to India on January 9th.
Male tragopans have an amazing display which has seldom been seen or filmed. Beneath his beak and throat the male has a patch of blue skin called a lappet which is normally hidden from view. He also has two "horns" of blue skin which normally are concealed below his head feathers. When he displays to his mate, this lappet and the horns fill rapidly with blood. The horns stick up on top of his head and the lappet extends down in front of the bird's chest rather like a bib. The colours and patterns on the lappet are one of nature's wonders, with brilliant blue and red patterns. The lappet patterns are different on each male. In contrast to the males, the females are not brightly coloured but have a subtle brown plumage which enables them to remain well-camouflaged when sitting on their nests.
This conservation programme has been co-ordinated by WPA's European Conservation Breeding Group, which includes pheasant specialists from zoos and private collections throughout Europe. This programme is a result of international conservation cooperation between Europe and India. The Highland Wildlife Park at Kingussie in Scotland has played a key role in providing special quarantine facilities to hold the birds on this and previous occasions and Lynda Burrill, based at Edinburgh Zoo, has been pivotal in arranging for special export licences.
The long-term plan is for these tragopans to live in special aviaries in several Indian zoos that are located in the Himalayas at a similar altitude to that which is natural for tragopans. The aim is for the staff of these zoos to gain practical experience in breeding tragopans using the birds from the UK with further training from WPA. When this has been achieved, eggs from wild nests in India will be put under the "British" tragopans, which will act as surrogate parents. In this way, a breeding group of birds originating from within India will develop and these can provide birds for any future reintroduction programme.
Wednesday, 09 Jan 2013
The Indian Government and its wildlife authorities have made determined efforts to ensure that some of the country's most endangered species do not slip further towards extinction. They have made specific plans for more than seventy different species. Two of these are members of the pheasant family called tragopans, the males of which have a brilliant red plumage.
The Satyr tragopan and the Temminck's tragopan inhabit high Himalayan mountain slopes and can be found at an altitude of around 3,000m (10,000 ft). The Indian Government has decided to establish conservation breeding groups of these two species in captivity in order that they can provide birds for reintroduction in the future if the need is identified. Previous attempts in India to take birds from the wild to establish the conservation breeding programme have always met with failure because the wild birds find captivity too stressful and seldom live long enough to breed. In the wild, tragopans do not normally breed until they are three years old.
About four years ago the Indian wildlife authorities sought help from The World Pheasant Association (WPA), an organisation which specialises in the conservation of the world's fifty different pheasant species. Members of WPA have considerable expertise in breeding threatened pheasant species as well as a great deal of knowledge of how to preserve the wild birds in their natural habitat. For the past four years, WPA has provided training for zoo staff in Darjeeling and Sikkim, in N. India so that they now have much more knowledge and understanding of how to care for and breed tragopans. In addition, new very large aviaries for the tragopans have been specially designed to suit the needs of the birds and to encourage them to breed naturally.
In the UK, a number of WPA members have bred these two tragopan species successfully and they have donated nine captive bred birds to add to tragopans they have sent previously to the Indian breeding programme. These birds have spent all their lives in captivity so they do not suffer the same stresses as wild caught birds. The nine tragopans have just completed their pre-export quarantine period at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland's Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie and will be flown to India on January 9th.
Male tragopans have an amazing display which has seldom been seen or filmed. Beneath his beak and throat the male has a patch of blue skin called a lappet which is normally hidden from view. He also has two "horns" of blue skin which normally are concealed below his head feathers. When he displays to his mate, this lappet and the horns fill rapidly with blood. The horns stick up on top of his head and the lappet extends down in front of the bird's chest rather like a bib. The colours and patterns on the lappet are one of nature's wonders, with brilliant blue and red patterns. The lappet patterns are different on each male. In contrast to the males, the females are not brightly coloured but have a subtle brown plumage which enables them to remain well-camouflaged when sitting on their nests.
This conservation programme has been co-ordinated by WPA's European Conservation Breeding Group, which includes pheasant specialists from zoos and private collections throughout Europe. This programme is a result of international conservation cooperation between Europe and India. The Highland Wildlife Park at Kingussie in Scotland has played a key role in providing special quarantine facilities to hold the birds on this and previous occasions and Lynda Burrill, based at Edinburgh Zoo, has been pivotal in arranging for special export licences.
The long-term plan is for these tragopans to live in special aviaries in several Indian zoos that are located in the Himalayas at a similar altitude to that which is natural for tragopans. The aim is for the staff of these zoos to gain practical experience in breeding tragopans using the birds from the UK with further training from WPA. When this has been achieved, eggs from wild nests in India will be put under the "British" tragopans, which will act as surrogate parents. In this way, a breeding group of birds originating from within India will develop and these can provide birds for any future reintroduction programme.
