Sclater's Monal (Lophophorus sclateri) Information

Sclater's Monal

Sclater's Monal, Lophophorus sclateri, also known as the Crestless Monal, is a large, approximately 68 centimetres (27 in) long, pheasant of the east Himalayan region. As other monals, the male is a colorful bird. It has a highly iridescent purplish-green upperparts plumage, short and curly metallic green crown feathers, copper neck, purplish-black throat, white back, blue orbital skin, yellowish-orange bill and brown iris. In the nominate subspecies, the tail is white with a broad chestnut band, while the tail is entirely white in L. s. arunachalensis from western Arunachal Pradesh in India. The crestless female is mostly a dark brown bird with a white throat and tail-tip, dull bluish orbital skin and a pale yellow bill.

 Sclater's Monal is distributed to mountain forests of southeast China, northern Burma and northeast India, at altitudes of 2,500 to 4,200 metres (8,200 to 13,800 ft). The diet of the Sclater's Monal is like that of other members of the genus Lophophorus, probably consists mainly of tubers, roots, bulbs, arthropods, rodents, seeds and flowers. The female usually lays between three to five eggs. It is not known if the Sclater's Monal male participates in nest defense but it is likely.

The name commemorates the British zoologist Philip Lutley Sclater.

Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size, limited range and overhunting in some areas for food and its feathers, Sclater's Monal is evaluated as Vulnerable on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES.

Sclater's Monal

 image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Prasadbr

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are two recognized subspecies:

•     L. s. arunachalensis (Kumar and Singh, 2004) - northern India
•     L. s. sclateri (Jerdon, 1870, ) - nominate - Himalayas of northeast India to southwest China