Rare pheasants captured on camera in southwest China
CGTN
00:39

Infrared cameras have captured rare footage of two Blyth's tragopans in the Gaoligong Mountains in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The staff of the Yunnan Gaoligong Mountains National Natural Reserve obtained clear footage of a male and a female Blyth's tragopan recorded by infrared cameras installed earlier this year.

A vulnerable species, the tragopan is under first-class state protection in China.

It's the largest of the genus Tragopan. Like most pheasants, the male is brightly colored, with a rusty red head, yellow facial skin, and white dots on its back. Females are not as brightly colored.

The bird population is less than 10,000, according to 2013 data by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the species is primarily found in Bhutan, India, Myanmar and China.

(Cover image via VCG)

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