Bornean Peacock-Pheasant
The Bornean Peacock-Pheasant, Polyplectron schleiermacheri is a medium-sized, up to 50 cm long, rufous brown and black spotted pheasant with an elongated crest and nape feathers, black below and bare red skin around bluish iris eye. The breast sides are metallic blue-green, bordering the white throat and central upper breast. Its twenty-two tail feathers are decorated with large blue-green ocelli, which may be spread fan-like in display. The female is smaller and duller brown than the male. It has a brown iris and no spurs on its feet.
The Bornean Peacock-Pheasant is probably the rarest and certainly the least known of all peacock-pheasants. This elusive bird is distributed and endemic to lowland forests of Borneo.
Together with the phenotypically similar Malayan Peacock-Pheasant and - its sister species -, Palawan Peacock-Pheasant it represents a basal group in its genus; their radiation probably took place during the Pliocene (Kimball et al. 2001). Being very poorly known, the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant was long considered to be a subspecies of the Malayan Peacock-Pheasant, but it is well distinct.
Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size, and limited range, the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant is evaluated as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
The Bornean Peacock-Pheasant is probably the rarest and certainly the least known of all peacock-pheasants. This elusive bird is distributed and endemic to lowland forests of Borneo.
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| Bornean Peacock-Pheasant |
image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Fowl_vet&action=edit&redlink=1
Together with the phenotypically similar Malayan Peacock-Pheasant and - its sister species -, Palawan Peacock-Pheasant it represents a basal group in its genus; their radiation probably took place during the Pliocene (Kimball et al. 2001). Being very poorly known, the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant was long considered to be a subspecies of the Malayan Peacock-Pheasant, but it is well distinct.
Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size, and limited range, the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant is evaluated as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
