Species Preserved | Birds

Vietnam pheasant

The Vietnam Pheasant is a forest-dwelling bird preferring areas of dense, damp undergrowth. Less than 250 individuals were left in the wild as of 2018 and they haven’t been sighted in their native area of central Vietnam since 2020.

Status Critically Endangered

Population Less than 250 in the wild

Scientific name Lophura edwardsi

Habitats Forest

Fun fact – Vietnam pheasants use their feet to scratch the ground in search of food items.
  • Ecology

    They forage for seeds, flower buds and small insects such as earthworms and termites, mainly in the early morning and late afternoon. Males are dark, iridescent blue while females are more plain and brown in colour. Vietnam pheasants lay four to seven eggs in nest sites on the forest floor – these eggs will be incubated for around three weeks by the female.

  • Threats

    Herbicides used as chemical weapons during the Vietnam War is killed off the forested areas inhabited by these pheasants and dried out the surrounding forest, making the habitat unsuitable for them. Suitable forests are being converted to paddy fields to support the growing, post-war human population, and poaching has also reduced their population.

  • Conservation

    Conservation projects have been launched to restore former habitats of the Vietnamese pheasant, including the building of a breeding station in Vietnam. Simultaneously, captive breeding programmes are underway in Europe using the most suitable birds – any revealed to be hybrids by genetic analysis are not included. Nature’s SAFE stores samples in order to increase genetic diversity in future generations.

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