Bulwer's pheasant (''Lophura bulweri''), also known as Bulwer's wattled pheasant, the wattled pheasant or the white-tailed wattled pheasant, is a Southeast Asian bird in the family Phasianidae

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the forests of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. It is currently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Etymology

Bulwer's pheasant belongs to the order

Galliformes Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are ofte ...

, in the family Phasianidae. The genus name ''Lophura'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''lophos'' for ridge, crest or tuft. The species name ''bulweri'' is after Sir Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer, Governor of

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capita ...

1871–1875, who presented the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Description

Bulwer's pheasant is

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

. Males have a total length of about , and are black-plumaged with a maroon breast, crimson legs, a pure white tail of long, curved feathers, and bright blue facial skin with two wattles that conceal the sides of its head. Females have a total length of about , and are an overall dull brown colour with red legs and blue facial skin.

Distribution and habitat

Bulwer's pheasant is

to the island of

. While the species is locally common in protected areas (e.g.

Kayan Mentarang National Park Kayan Mentarang National Park ( id, Taman Nasional Kayan Mentarang) is a densely forested national park located in the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. The national park is named after a great dispersed Mentara ...

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan ( Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3 ...

) it is rarely found elsewhere. The bird inhabits hill and lower

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

tropical forest, likely preferring highland

rainforests Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

and rarely visiting the lowlands below an altitude of . The diet consists mainly of fruits, worms, and insects.

Status

Bulwer's pheasant is listed as Vulnerable on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

of Threatened Species due to a rapidly declining population. The primary reasons for this decline are

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and fragmentation due to

commercial logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

and forest fires. Local hunting is also thought to undermine the birds population. Further, captive breeding programs aimed at preserving the species have met with little success. John Roach from ''National Geographic'' offers another explanation for their decline in numbers by saying "the birds themselves seem to find each other somewhat less than appealing" in speaking with ornithologist John Rowden of the

Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, that aims to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions. Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological ...

in New York City and curator of animals at the Central Park Zoo.

Captivity

This species is very rarely kept in zoos due to mating problems. The only western zoos to house the species are

San Diego Zoo The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, housing 4000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on of Balboa Park leased from the City of San Diego. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a p ...

which kept three males and the

San Antonio Zoo The San Antonio Zoo is an Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoo in Midtown San Antonio, Texas, United States. It is located in the city's Brackenridge Park. San Antonio Zoo is a 50+ acre zoo home to over 750 species, some of whic ...

which had a mother-son pair in 2000. Neither zoo currently lists the bird as an exhibit in 2017.

Walsrode Bird Park Weltvogelpark Walsrode, known as Walsrode Bird Park or Jubs in English until 2010, is a bird park located in the middle of the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany within the municipality of Bomlitz near Walsrode in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

has kept the birds as recently as 2003, and

Antwerp Zoo Antwerp Zoo ( nl, ZOO Antwerpen) is a zoo in the centre of Antwerp, Belgium, located next to the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station. It is the oldest animal park in the country, and one of the oldest in the world, established on 21 July 1843. ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, has bred the birds. Antwerp Zoo has been very successful with many members of the genus '' Lophura''. In Pairi Daiza two males arrived in 2018, which made the zoo at the time the only one in Europe with this species in its collection. This individual has, however, died since, in 2022; due to a fox attack.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

{{Taxonbar, from=Q766605 Bulwer's pheasant Endemic birds of Borneo Bulwer's pheasant