Crested ibises (scientific name: Nipponia nippon): Ancient name of the vermilion heron, red ibis, crested ibises are endemic to East Asia. Medium-sized, white body feathers, long willow-leaf-shaped crown at the back of the occipital area, bare skin from the forehead to the cheeks, bright red, and the gray pigment secreted from the neck muscles is continuously pecked by the beak during the breeding period, and applied to the head, neck, upper back and wings feathers, making it gray-black.
Once widely distributed in eastern China, Japan, Russia, North Korea and other places, due to environmental degradation and other factors led to a sharp decline in populations, by the 1980s there were only 7 wild populations in the southern foothills of Qinling in Yang County, Shaanxi Province, China, and after artificial breeding, the population number has reached 200 (2008).
