Rediscovery of Edwards Pheasant

Lophura hatinhensis

In addition to these mammals, a pheasant was discovered in 1975. Sometimes called Vo Quy's pheasant after its discoverer, Lophura hatinhensis is now being successfully bred in captivity in Hanoi Zoo (who I wish to thank).

Ga Lung: Lophura hatinhensis
The male is contrastingly black deep blue, red and white and the and female a less conspicuous brown colour.
Credit: Hanoi Zoological Gardens, Ms Nguyen Thi Cuc Phuong and V. Weitzel

---

In addition to these, Dr Ha Dinh Duc of the National University of Hanoi reports that a colleague at Hue University another goat-like animal near A Luoi in Thua Thien Province (unpublished). Dr Pham Nhat (Forestry University, Xuan Mai) reports two unusual civet specimens from Lao Cai Province in the far northwest [Lam Nghiep 2/1995:22 (1995)]. Peter and Feiler [Zool. Abh. Staat. Mus. f. Tier. Dresden 48(11) (1994)] describe a new bovid from Vietnam and Cambodia. The animal, which resembles a small kouprey, was named Pseudonovibos spiralis Peter and Feiler.

We suspect that the taxonomic position of some mammals we have known for a while will change as we learn more about their distributions. We have a program to map primate distribution by asking international colleagues travelling to help us. We work with the Institute for Ecology and Biological Resources in Hanoi and the National University of Hanoi (Faculty of Biology).

Crossposted from clari.world.asia.vietnam
Subject: Extinct pheasant found in Vietnam
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 5:30:28 PDT

       HANOI, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Vietnamese villagers searching for
dinner  instead caught a pheasant species endemic to Vietnam but
thought to be ecologically extinct, the World Wide Fund for Nature said
Wednesday.

       A male and female pair of Edwards pheasants (Lophura edwardsi)
were captured by villagers in a remote area of central Vietnam, the
firsttime live specimens have been collected since 1928. The pheasants
were destined for the soup pot before local foresters working with the
WWF intervened.

       The Edwards pheasants were already considered rare when French
ornithologist Jean Delacour brought 15 of them back to Paris for the
first time in 1923.

       ``This is yet another feather in the cap of conservation in
Vietnam,'' said Dawood Ghaznavi, Asia Pacific program director at WWF
International in Switzerland. ``Rediscovering this pheasant after 70
years means mankind has a second chance to save this exquisite bird and
its habitat.''

       The birds were found near Bach Ma National Park in Thua
Thien-Hue  Province, the only protected area in the country where the
Edwards pheasant, which needs wet forest land, was thought could exist.
A popular summer resort during the French colonial period, Bach Ma
harbors six out of 12 pheasant species in Vietnam.

       Three previous scientific expeditions, conducted between 1988
and  1944, failed to find or even sight the Edwards but the search was
renewed after villagers in the area reported they exist.

       Together with local forest authorities, the WWF said it now
plans to increase the number and training of forest guards in the area
and to launch a public awareness campaign to help the pheasants survive
in the wild.

       The original collection of Edwards pheasants brought to France
has  grown to several hundred among private breeders in Europe, David
Hulse, WWF's representative in Hanoi, said.

       However, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to use this
population to reintroduce the species in Vietnam because the ``endemic
knowledge'' would have been bred out of them after many generations in
captivity, he said.

       The 22,000 hectare Bach Ma was severely damaged by defoliants
sprayed during the Vietnam War post-war logging but in recent years
there have been some reforestation efforts.

       A recent WWF-sponsored survey, conducted by the Vietnam-Russian
Tropical Center, identified 176 species of butterflies, several that
are thought to be new to science, Hulse said.

       Two new large mammals and a fresh water fish have been
discovered in  Vietnam in recent years. A third new large mammal was
discovered in Vietnam's central highlands about a year ago by German
scientists but they were only able to find old skulls, suggesting the
creature was already extinct, Hulse said.

Sent to AVSL-L by:  "'C.Michele' Claudia Michele Thompson"


http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~vern/species/edwardsi.txt