Cabot's tragopan
| Cabot's tragopan | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Galliformes |
| Family: | Phasianidae |
| Subfamily: | Phasianinae |
| Genus: | Tragopan |
| Species: | T. caboti |
| Binomial name | |
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Tragopan caboti (Gould, 1857) |
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Cabot's tragopan (Tragopan caboti) is a pheasant found in south-east China. The common and scientific names of this large bird both commemorate the ornithologist Samuel Cabot III. Other common names include the Chinese tragopan and the yellow-bellied tragopan. The population is divided into two subspecies, of which the nominate race is found in the provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, and T. c. guangxiensis is confined to northeastern Guangxi and southern Hunan. The IUCN has assessed it as being a "vulnerable species".
Cabot's tragopan is a plump ground-dwelling bird with relatively short legs. The male grows to a length of about 60 cm (24 in) and a weight of around 1.4 kg (3 lb) while the female is about 10 cm (4 in) shorter and weighs around 0.9 kg (2 lb). The head of the male is black with reddish-orange streaks on either side and on the neck and similar-coloured bare skin on the cheeks and around the eye. Below the beak dangle blue and orange decorative, inflatable wattles and there are a pair of fleshy blue "horns" over the eyes. The upper parts of the body are reddish-brown, with large buff markings and the underparts are straw-coloured. The female is altogether a less-colourful bird. The head and upper parts are reddish-brown spotted with black and marked with triangular-shaped white patches and the underparts are greyish-brown with white markings.
Cabot's tragopan is endemic to mountain ranges in southeastern China where it is present in the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang. Its typical habitat is subtropical evergreen forest and other forests with a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees. Its altitudinal range is 600 to 1,800 metres (2,000 to 5,900 ft) and it is also present above the treeline. Populations are fragmented as it has limited ability to disperse and seems not to move across gaps in forest cover of over 500 metres (1,600 ft).
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Wikipedia