Palawan peacock pheasant
| Palawan peacock pheasant | ||||||||||
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Palawan peacock pheasant |
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| Polyplectron napoleonis | ||||||||||
| Lesson , 1831 |
The Palawan peacock pheasant ( Polyplectron napoleonis ) is a species of pheasant from the genus of the peacock pheasant . It is an endemic Fasanenart that only on the 150 kilometers from Borneo 's remote, Philippine island of Palawan occurs. The Palawan peacock pheasant is a geographically isolated species among the peacock pheasants.
Appearance
Male Palawan peacock pheasants reach a body weight of around 450 grams. Females are a bit lighter and weigh an average of 322 grams. The wing length is about 19 centimeters in the male and the tail has a length between 24 and 25 centimeters. The wing length in the female, however, rarely exceeds 17.5 centimeters. With them the tail is significantly shorter than the wings are long.
The male has a plumage that is very densely covered with green to turquoise iridescent feathers on the neck, on the coat and on the wings . These striking “eyes” run in two rows on the tail. Around the eyes, the featherless skin area is red. The male also has a small feather hood, which is erected stiffly during courtship.
The females have an inconspicuous dark brown plumage that is light gray from the sides of the head to the throat. They are very similar to the females of the Malay mirror peacock . In field observations, however, there is no risk of confusion, as the two species have a different regional distribution.
habitat
The Palawan peacock pheasant is the only species of pheasant on the island of Palawan . Its distribution area is the humid jungle in the coastal plains of Palawan and extends in places to the drier forest areas at the foot of the mountain ranges. Biologists estimate that in the undestroyed primary forests there are between 25 and 34 males per square kilometer. The pheasants prefer parts of the forest with diverse vegetation on trees and shrubs. In these regions this species of pheasant finds food and cover all year round.
Way of life
Living together, food
Very little is known about the way this pheasant species lives in the wild. So until now it is unclear whether this pheasant species is monogamous in the wild and whether they defend a territory. Most of the knowledge was gained from captive birds.
Similar to other peacock pheasants, the Palawan peacock pheasant prefers a high-protein diet. It eats insects as well as fruits and seeds. They are diurnal birds that look for food on the ground during the day. They stand up at night. Only during the time in which the female is looking after flightless young birds does she hover over them on the ground during the night. They usually seek cover near the male's sleeping tree.
Courtship
As is typical for the peacock pheasant, the Palawan peacock pheasant maintains extensive courtship behavior in which the display of the plumage by the male plays a major role. Courtship behavior usually begins with the male strutting stiff-legged around the female. The plumage on the lower neck and the sides of the neck is raised wide, the feather bonnet is erect stiffly. The Palawan peacock pheasant carries food for the female in its beak. The pheasant attracts the female's attention by moving its head up and down quickly. When the female approaches, the male drops the food on the ground. While the female is looking for food on the ground, he presents her plumage. The tail plumage is then also stiffly erect and turned sideways towards the female. The male of the Palawan peacock pheasant may stand in front of the female. The Palawan peacock pheasant lacks the faculty of frontal presentation seen in many others within this family. The posture has already been compared by ornithologists with a plate standing on the edge, which hovers six to eight centimeters above the ground through an invisible holder. This differentiates it, for example, from the actual peacock, which always turns its entire body towards the female. In this presentation position, not only is the tail plumage erect, but also the neck and side plumage of the peacock pheasant bristled. The head is pulled so far towards the body that the beak sinks into the raised neck plumage.
Mating and young rearing
In contrast to the conspicuous courtship behavior, the actual mating takes place quickly and unobtrusively. The male approaches the female from behind and mounts it without further interaction with the partner.
In their tropical homeland, Palawan peacock pheasants probably raise several clutches in a row. However, the number of eggs is small and is often only one egg, especially in young females. The clutch is normally only incubated by the female for 19 days. The young birds are then supplied with food by both parent birds. Until the young birds are able to pick food from the ground, the parent birds offer their young food in their beak.
The young birds develop very quickly. Young Palawan peacock pheasants are able to tree on their parent birds' sleeping tree from the age of 13. They are also hovered on the sleeping tree of the parent birds by the female until they are around 44 days old . They then have largely complete plumage.
Duration
The population on the island of Palawan is unknown. However, the species is considered to be endangered, as it only occurs with significantly lower numbers in primeval forests where wood is felled. In principle, all forests on the island are now affected by logging. A nature reserve, however, offers this kind of protection: This is the 54 square kilometer St. Paul Subterranean River National Park on the west coast of Palawan, in whose area there is also a - but only 5,000 hectare - large forest area.
The Palawan peacock pheasant is kept in various zoos around the world. In 1999, a stud book was in preparation in the USA, which should ensure that conservation breeding takes place in which inbreeding depression is avoided. At that time, the stud book contained 500 birds. In the Zoo of Minis in Erzgebirge Aue Palawan peacock-pheasant are kept and bred.
There is a European Conservation Breeding Program (EEP) for the Palawan peacock pheasant, which is managed by Jersey Zoo in England.
Systematics
The Palawan peacock pheasant belongs to the peacock pheasant. These are small to medium-sized pheasants, in which the sexual dimorphism is only moderately developed compared to the other species of the order.
The Palawan peacock pheasant is now only found on the island of Palawan. This is about 150 kilometers from the island of Borneo . During the Pleistocene , the sea level between the two islands was significantly lower, so that a chain of islands enabled a species exchange. According to ornithologist Paul Johnsgard, the Borneo peacock pheasant is the closest species to the Palawan peacock pheasant. The two species are similar in terms of the plumage of the male.
literature
- Paul Johnsgard: Pheasants of the world - Biology and natural history. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington 1999, ISBN 1-84037-129-3
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings on Polyplectron emphanum in the Internet Bird Collection
- Polyplectron napoleonis inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2014.