Pheasants: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan ... - IUCN

Ecology: It was said to inhabit exceedingly damp forests up
to an estimated 600m, favouring thick underbrush and
lianas (Delacour 1977). However, all the early collecting
localities were in the forested level lowlands and there is no
evidence that it can live above 300m (Eames et al. 1992,
Lambert et al. 1994).
Threats: This species’ historical range is now almost
completely denuded of primary forest through a
combination of herbicide spraying during the Vietnam
War, subsequent logging, and clearance for agriculture
(Eames et al. 1992). The last forest areas known to support
the species are subject to continuing degradation by
woodcutters (Eames and Robson 1991). Hunting pressure
from various forest product collectors poses an additional
threat (Eames et al. 1992).
Conservation: CITES Appendix I. Surveys for the species
were conducted in 1988 and 1991 (Eames and Robson
1991, Eames et al. 1992). The localities from which recent
records derive have been incorporated within two proposed
nature reserves, Phong Dien and Dakrong, for which a
management feasibility study has been completed (Le
Trong Trai et al. 1999b). Bach Ma National Park lies
within the historical range of the species and a poster
campaign to obtain local information was conducted there
in 1996 (Eve 1997), although as yet there have been no
confirmed records from this park. Hybrid lines are now
being excluded from the captive breeding programme (A.
Hennache in litt.).
Targets:
• Conduct further surveys of remaining forest fragments
within its historical range.
• Continue research into the taxonomic relationships of
Lophura pheasants in Vietnam.
• Establish the proposed Phong Dien and Dakrong Nature
Reserves.
• Initiate a local poster campaign to increase
conservation awareness of Annamese lowland Lophura
pheasants.
Vietnamese pheasant
(Lophura hatinhensis)
Endangered B1+2b–e; C1; C2a
This pheasant has a very small and severely fragmented
range and population that are continuing to decline owing to
destruction of its specialised lowland forest habitat and high
levels of hunting. These factors currently combine to qualify
it for Endangered status. If habitat loss and hunting continue
to operate, it may be upgraded to Critically Endangered in
the very near future.
Taxonomy: DNA sequence analyses on samples from the
Annamese lowland endemic Lophura pheasants have
revealed only minute differences on a scale normally
associated with subspecies, thus indicating that the
Vietnamese pheasant may be conspecific with the Edwards’s
pheasant (Scott 1997, Hennache et al. 1998, E. Randi in
litt.).
Range and population: The Vietnamese pheasant is endemic
to central Vietnam, where it was discovered in 1964 (Vo Quy
1975). There are recent records from localities in Ha Tinh
and Quang Binh Provinces, most of which are within the Ke
Go Nature Reserve (Robson et al. 1991, 1993a). The
continued existence of a population in the Net River
watershed, where several birds were seen in 1994 (Lambert
et al. 1994), may be in doubt because of extensive logging
and other degradation of suitable habitat there (J. Eames in
litt.). Its global population has been estimated at