News: Lurh Tlang Vavu Sanctuary in Farkawn village of Champhai district has become Mizoram’s first community-led forest dedicated to the sole conservation of Mrs. Hume’s pheasant, the state bird of Mizoram.
About Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant
- It is also known as the bar-tailed pheasant.
- It is the state bird of Mizoram and Manipur.
- Naming: The name commemorates Mary Ann Grindall Hume, wife of the British naturalist A. O. Hume, one of the key founders of the Indian National Congress.
- Habitat and Distribution
- Habitat: It inhabits open, dry, subtropical evergreen (mainly oak), coniferous (chiefly pine) or mixed conifer-broadleaf forests on steep, rocky hillsides interrupted by scrub and grassy clearings.
- Distribution: It is endemic to China, Myanmar, Thailand, Burma and India.
- In India, it is found in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
- Characteristics
- The pheasant is up to 90 cm long with a greyish brown head, bare red facial skin, chestnut brown plumage, yellowish bill.
- It has metallic blue neck feathers.
- The male has a long greyish white, barred black and brown tail.
- The female is a chestnut brown bird with whitish throat, buff colour belly and white-tipped tail.
- Threats
- Habitat loss and fragmentation due to shifting cultivation
- Deforestation
- Hunted for food
- Trade of meat
- IUCN Status: Vulnerable
