Polyplectron bicalcaratum

The grey peacock pheasant male has a shaggy, elongated hair-like crest with small black and white spots; At the back of the neck was a dark brown collar, with brown-white stripes; The whole body is black brown, and the feathers are covered with brown-white fine spots and horizontal spots. The brown-white spot on the upper body gradually expands from front to back. There is a metallic blue-purple eye spot on the near end of each feather on the inside of the two wings, and it is surrounded by narrow black-brown circle and wider white circle, which is extremely eye-catching. Chin and throat white; The tail feathers have pairs of purple-green eye spots near the end, which are somewhat similar to the tail screen of a peacock, so they are called peacock pheasants.
The female bird is slightly smaller than the male, with duller feathers, a shorter tail, and less visible eye spots.
Iris light brown or gray, face partially nude flesh color, mouth end Angle black, mouth base flesh color, fe

It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
In China, it can only be found in Yingjiang in the west of Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna in the southwest, Mengla, Jinghong, Simao, and Bawangling, Jianfengling, Baishiling, Dongfang, Chengmai, Tunchang and other forest areas on Hainan Island.
It lives in tropical rain forest, monsoon rain forest and bamboo forest at an altitude of about 1500 meters, and it is active on the wet ground of shrub grassland under broad-leaved forest, dense forest and more developed vegetation under forest.

Polyplectron katsumatae (Polyplectron katsumatae) was developed in 2004 by the Hainan Provincial Forestry Bureau, Hainan Normal University and Beijing Normal University. Through DNA sequencing and molecular genetic markers, it was found that the genetic distance between Hainanese peacock pheasant and gray peacock pheasant was 3.1%, which exceeded the range of genetic distance between bird species and species level, and should be independent species. It was designated as an independent species in 2008.

Gray peacock pheasants often live alone or in pairs, and are more frequent in the morning and afternoon. Sex is alert and timid. Male birds are particularly cautious when they are active, generally quietly, and often stand still and pay attention when they find something unusual. Found danger, immediately screamed and fled, burrowed into dense brush or grass, generally do not take off. When danger is near or imminent, they flee by flight. Generally, they do not fly far, usually land tens of meters, and continue to run to escape after landing. They rarely fly into trees, but they roost in them at night. The call is short and loud, and it gets louder as it gets louder.

The pheasant mainly feeds on insects, worms, plant stems, leaves, fruits and seeds. Mainly on the ground to eat, use the mouth to peck, occasionally with the feet to find.

The cry of the gray peacock pheasant is bright and high, like "guanggui- guanggui (Guanggui)", which is called "Noo Guanggui" in Dai language, because "Noo" is the meaning of "bird" in Dai language. The male's domain call is a loud trew-tree plosive. The female makes a loud ga-ga sound or a quick ok-kok-kok call when she alarms.

The breeding season is from April to June. At the beginning of March, male birds appeared courtship behavior, courtship show off as a positive type. When the female approaches the male, the male is in front of the female, facing the female, lowering the front of the body, spreading his wings slightly, raising his tail and opening towards the female, and when the female walks away, the male returns to normal.

Gray peacock pheasants usually nest in dense forests in the low mountains and foothills. The nest is mostly placed next to roots or on the ground in the grass, very simple, mainly using natural pits on the ground, and it is filled with dead grass stems, leaves or feathers. One nest measured was 15 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep. Each litter lays 2-5 eggs, but there are also as many as 6 eggs and as few as 1 eggs. The eggs were grayish-white, smooth and without spots, and the size of the eggs was measured as 43.2-50.3 mm ×34.0-38.1 mm, with an average of 46.5 mm ×35.9 mm, according to 40 eggs. The female incubates her eggs for 21 days.

Due to the destruction of the habitats of secondary deciduous monsoon rain forest and evergreen monsoon rain forest, the distribution area of the pheasant is rapidly disappearing and retreating. The density of the pheasant in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province and Baswangling, Hainan Island is between 0.01 and 0.02 per hectare, and the total number of pheasant in Hainan Island is less than 2700. There are fewer than 100 in southeastern Tibet. A common predator is the weasel, while daytime birds of prey also kill peacock pheasants. The peacock pheasant is threatened by human hunting. In recent decades, the cultivation of rubber, coffee, tea and other tropical cash crops and the exploitation and utilization of wood in Hainan and Xishuangbanna have cut down large areas of tropical rainforests and monsoon rainforests, which have seriously damaged the habitat conditions of peacock pheasants, resulting in a very small number of peacock pheasants population and a very endangered situation.

In the early 1990s, the South China Institute of Endangered Animals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences began the experiment of domesticating and breeding gray peacock pheasants and achieved success, and more than 40 offspring have been bred.

Listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) for 2016 ver 3.1 - Not Threatened (LC).

Listed in the Washington Convention CITES Appendix II protected animals.

Listed in the "China Red Book of Endangered Animals · Birds" rare species.

Listed in China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021).

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