China News Service Chongqing, November 11 (Zhang Xu) The reporter learned from Chongqing Xuebaoshan National Nature Reserve (hereinafter referred to as the reserve) on the 5th that with the recent entry of 5 artificially bred white-crowned long-tailed pheasants into the reserve, it marks the official use of the first white-crowned long-tailed pheasant breeding and rewilding base in southwest China.
A male white-crowned pheasant in the Xuebaoshan National Nature Reserve in Chongqing on November 11. (Photo courtesy of Chongqing Xuebaoshan National Nature Reserve)
The white-crowned pheasant is an endemic and rare species in China, a national first-class key protected wild animal, and listed as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is worth mentioning that the tail feathers of the white-crowned long-tailed pheasant can reach more than 2 meters, and it is called "pheasant feather". In Peking Opera, the feather decoration "Lingzi" on the heads of Wusheng and Dao Ma Dan is mostly made of the two longest tail feathers of the white-crowned long-tailed pheasant.
"Therefore, in the early years, the tail feathers of the white-crowned pheasant were highly sought-after collectors." Yang Quan, director of the management center of Chongqing's Xuebaoshan National Nature Reserve, said that the long-tailed white tailed pheasant has earned the white-crowned pheasant a reputation as the "forest phoenix", and has also brought a near-devastating blow to its survival.
The white-crowned pheasant was once found in the mountainous areas of eastern and western China. After 2000, multiple survey data showed that the species had basically disappeared from the wild in southwest China, and only a few zoos had been bred in captivity. In recent years, Chongqing Zoo has made a breakthrough in the artificial breeding technology of the white-crowned long-tailed pheasant, and the population has been expanding, which provides a feasibility for the rewilding project of the white-crowned long-tailed pheasant.
In order to fundamentally solve the vulnerable situation of white-crowned long-tailed pheasant and restore the wild population, rewilding is an effective way. Yang Quan said that rewilding is a systematic project, which includes habitat environmental protection and restoration, population expansion, rewilding training, reintroduction experiments, and wild reintroduction. This work requires continuous efforts, and we look forward to working with experts in various fields and disciplines to truly return the white-crowned pheasant that has been bred in the wild at the base to the wild.
It is understood that in the future, the reserve and Chongqing Zoo will coordinate the management methods, technical methods and scientific research process, and simultaneously carry out a number of experimental research work, so as to promote the smooth implementation of the rewilding project of the white-crowned long-tailed pheasant by scientific and effective means. (ENDS)