"Rare Species in Jiangxi" is a short video documentary jointly created by the Jiangxi Provincial Wildlife Protection Center and Jiangxi News Client to reflect the ecology of Jiangxi. It tells the stories of rare species with documentary, ideological and popular science TV lenses, disseminates the concept of ecological Jiangxi, and displays the achievements of ecological civilization construction in Jiangxi Province.
The yellow-bellied horned pheasant, belonging to the family Pheasantae, is an endangered pheasant endemic to China, a national first-class protected wild animal, and listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and an endangered species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Male yellow-bellied horned pheasant on guard in trees during breeding
As a "nobleman among birds", the yellow-bellied horned pheasant is slightly larger than the common domestic chicken, with a small head connected to a somewhat "rich" body, and males and females are completely different colors. The male has a black head with golden stripes behind the eyes, naked cheeks and an orange-yellow throat that is brilliantly blue and red when inflated. The upper body is chestnut-brown with pale yellow rounded spots with a black margin. The lower body is almost pure brownish yellow, because the abdominal feathers are yellow skin, so the name "yellow-bellied horned pheasant". Females are mostly tan , densely covered with fine lines of black, brown, yellow and white, with scattered dark spots on the upper body and white spots on the underparts.
Yellow-bellied horned pheasant photography丨Lin Jiansheng
Yellow-bellied horned pheasant of Huanggangshan "Three Treasures" (male)
Female yellow-bellied horned pheasant hatching photography丨Cheng pine forest
The yellow-bellied horned pheasant is a ground-dwelling resident bird, which has high habitat dependence and poor anti-interference ability. The narrow-range area of the yellow-bellied pheasant is distributed in Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi and other southern provinces, mainly inhabiting subtropical mountain evergreen broad-leaved forests and coniferous broad-leaved mixed forests at altitudes of 600~1800 meters, with a total global population of only about 4000. The breeding rate of the yellow-bellied horned pheasant is very low, and its rarity can be called the "giant panda among birds".
Resting yellow-bellied horned pheasant male
Jiangxi Province is the province with the most extensive distribution area of the yellow-bellied horned pheasant, and the distribution of yellow-bellied horned pheasant in the Wuyi Mountain Range, Luoxiao Mountain Range, Nanling Mountain Range and Huaiyu Mountain Range all has the distribution of Yellow-bellied Horned Pheasant, so Jiangxi is the most critical area for the protection of Yellow-bellied Horned Pheasant and its genetic diversity. According to continuous monitoring results, the number of yellow-bellied pheasants in the wild in Wuyishan National Park (Jiangxi area) alone is stable at more than 540, and the staff used infrared cameras to monitor and repeatedly photographed the yellow-bellied pheasants foraging in the wild.
Yellow-bellied horned pheasant in a duel
The breeding season for the yellow-bellied pheasant is from March to May each year. Adult male yellow-bellied pheasants make calls of different frequencies and syllables to assert territorial sovereignty and signal "courtship". Once a female is spotted, the male will quickly approach and perform a courtship show, holding his head high and his tail flapping, showing off his gorgeous flesh skirt and horns.
The yellow-bellied horned pheasant is hidden, loves to "hide cats" between mountains and forests, often moves in dense understory shrubs and grasses, and when it finds a danger signal, it lowers its head and shrinks between the grasses.
Yellow-bellied horned pheasant chick photography丨Lin Jiansheng
The yellow-bellied pheasant feeds mainly on the stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds of ferns and plants, and occasionally feeds on invertebrates and fungi such as spiders, dragonflies and ants.
Yellow-bellied horned pheasant female bird photography丨Cheng pine forest
As the ecological environment continues to improve, now, among the green mountains and green waters of Jiangxi, the wild population of the "mountain hermit" yellow-bellied horned pheasant has increased year by year, and the living area and range of activities have also expanded year by year. Green mountains and distant dais, "rare customers" become "regulars", between the lush mountains and forests, it is timid by nature and finally finds this peaceful place, running wantonly in the green of the mountains.
From: Jiangxi News Client
Source: Jiangxi Daily