Crested Argus
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| Crested Argus | ||||||||||||||
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| Rheinardia ocellata (Elliot, 1871) |
The Crested Argus, Rheinardia ocellata, is a large (up to 235cm long) and spectacular pheasant with dark-brown-spotted black and buff plumage, a pink bill, brown irises and blue skin around the eyes. The head is small, decorated with white erect crest feathers on the rear crown. The male has a broad and greatly elongated tail of twelve feathers, up to nearly two meters long (for a long time, considered the longest feathers from a wild bird species). The female looks similar, with a shorter crest and tail. It is the only member in monotypic genus Rheinardia.
Little is known about this species in the wild. A shy and elusive bird, the Crested Argus is found in forests of Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. The diet consists mainly of leaves, fruits, insects, grubs and small animals.
Due to ongoing habitat loss as well as overhunting in some areas, the Crested Argus is evaluated as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2005). Rheinardia ocellata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 30 October 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is near threatened
