Crossoptilon mantchuricum. Brown eared pheasant.
Belgium. Antwerp Zoo.
Crossoptilon mantchuricum is endemic to northern China, where it is now confined to scattered localities in the Luliang Shan of western Shanxi, and the mountains of north-western Hebei, western Beijing and central Shaanxi. Its population within protected areas was recently estimated at c.5,000 birds, but on the basis of potential habitat available for this species both inside and outside protected areas, and assuming the mean population density within protected areas is twice that in unprotected areas, it has been tentatively estimated to number up to c.17,000 birds. Recent evidence from the Forest Department of Hebei Province has enlarged the species known range, confirming that it also occurs in Laiyuan and Laishui counties, and that it may be more numerous than previously thought1.
Crossoptilon mantchuricum. Brown eared pheasant.
Belgium. Antwerp Zoo.
Crossoptilon mantchuricum is endemic to northern China, where it is now confined to scattered localities in the Luliang Shan of western Shanxi, and the mountains of north-western Hebei, western Beijing and central Shaanxi. Its population within protected areas was recently estimated at c.5,000 birds, but on the basis of potential habitat available for this species both inside and outside protected areas, and assuming the mean population density within protected areas is twice that in unprotected areas, it has been tentatively estimated to number up to c.17,000 birds. Recent evidence from the Forest Department of Hebei Province has enlarged the species known range, confirming that it also occurs in Laiyuan and Laishui counties, and that it may be more numerous than previously thought1.