Bird Under Siege

Bird of the Day Series, Social Media Content

Photo: Forestry Department of Sichuan Province

The Chinese Monal is the world’s third-largest pheasant, after turkeys and peafowl. They’re 3’ long, 7 lbs, sound like rusty hinges, and are found only in the mountains of central and southwest China, at 9,000-16,000 feet.  

They have two things working against them. 

In the northern Indian province of Himachal Pradesh, men ‘need’ his feathers to pay homage to their deities, and to exhibit status. They pay a small fortune for a few ounces, have the feathers set in gold or silver, then wear the pieces in special-occasion hats—they’re often seen at weddings. People claim that the use of these feathers are an important part of their culture. In 2007, the government removed the species as its state bird, but that hasn’t helped. The Times of India reports that you can buy these feathers ‘anywhere’. 

Their second problem is Chinese medicine. These birds live on bulbs, roots and flowers, with fritillaries (lilies) as the main part of their summer diet. For 2000 years, the Chinese have used fritillaries to treat colds and hypertension—the annual trade of these bulbs is $400 million (US). But raw fritillaries are toxic to humans, and many people believe that if they eat the bird who eats the bulbs, they get the benefits without the toxin. And/or fritillary hunters use the birds to find the bulbs, then kill them and sell the bulbs and the feathers. 

The result is that this is a highly-endangered species—despite a 1982 ban on hunting them. They don’t breed every year, and zoos have found that they won’t breed in captivity. However, as an experiment, pairs were placed in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. They like it there, and 12 Chinese Monals have been born in the last four years. 

The Chinese Monal is one of the most endangered species in China, and is at the top of its protected list. The penalty for poaching is five years in prison. People keep killing them anyway.