Crossoptilon crossoptilon

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Pangalloanserae
Cladus: Galloanseres
Ordo: Galliformes

Familia: Phasianidae
Subfamilia: Phasianinae
Genus: Crossoptilon
Species: Crossoptilon crossoptilon
Subspecies: C. c. crossoptilon – C. c. dolani – C. c. drouynii – C. c. lichiangense
Name

Crossoptilon crossoptilon (Hodgson, 1838)
Synonyms

Phasianus crossoptilon (protonym)

References

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 7: 864.

Vernacular names
български: Бял ушат фазан
brezhoneg: Fazan skouarnek gwenn
català: Faisà mostatxut blanc
čeština: Bažant tibetský
Cymraeg: Ffesant glustiog
Deutsch: Weißer Ohrfasan
English: White-eared Pheasant
Esperanto: Blanka fazano
español: Faisán orejudo blanco
فارسی: قرقاول گوش‌سفید
suomi: Valkokorvafasaani
français: Hokki blanc
magyar: Fehér fülesfácán
italiano: Fagiano orecchiuto bianco
日本語: シロミミキジ
lietuvių: Baltasis ausuotasis fazanas
Nederlands: Witte oorfazant
polski: Uszak biały
پنجابی: چٹے کناں آلا فیزنٹ
svenska: Vit öronfasan
Tiếng Việt: Trĩ trắng
中文: 白马鸡

The white eared pheasant (Crossoptilon crossoptilon), also known as Dolan’s eared pheasant[3] or Bee's pheasant, is a species of "eared pheasant" that get its name because its colouration is white and has the prominent ear tufts of the genus, not because it has white ears. The indigenous people of Himalaya call it shagga, meaning snow fowl. This gregarious bird lives in large flocks, foraging on alpine meadows close to or above the snowline throughout the year. C. crossoptilon is found in China, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet, where it tends to inhabit mixed forests and can be found around Buddhist monasteries.
Flight

White eared pheasants tend to fly a great deal more than their close relatives, such as the brown eared pheasant (C. mantchuricum) and the blue eared pheasant (C. auritum). All three species are capable of hovering or volplaning over deep snow, with the aid of their great, wide tails. Eared pheasants move across deep snow by whirring their wings and fluttering close to the ground, and supporting their weight on their rectrices. Eared pheasant flight was often described as poor by the hunter collectors of the 18th century, who used dogs to flush the birds from the ground for shooting. Eared pheasants do not waste their energy on flying when quadrupeds prey on them because they have adapted many defensive escape behaviors that do not require flight. They have a high aptitude for sustained flight — movements that only take them a few hundred yards at a time, but in the snowy seasons this is very useful. This ability to cover large distances by flight is reminiscent of ptarmigans, sage grouse, and Syrmaticus pheasants, all of which inhabit snowy regions and use sustained flight for feeding during winter. Characteristic of these species and C. crossoptilon is the lack of a prominent tailing wing notch.[4]
Diet

C. crossoptilon forages for tubers and roots in alpine meadows, often in the company of yaks or other hoofed stock. In winter, the white eared pheasant subsists on pine needles, juniper berries, wolf berries, and the desiccated seed pods of iris, lily, and allium. When hard-pressed during the most severe winter storms, which may blow for weeks at a time, eared pheasants may subsist upon pine pitch and deer, rabbit, and yak dung.
Subspecies

While all known forms of white eared pheasant are very similar in phenotype, behavioral and genetic differences suggest much is available to learn about their systematic and behavioral ecology.[citation needed]

The Szechuan white eared pheasant, (C. c. crossoptilon), is a galliform bird native to the Sichuan (Szechuan) region of China. It is a subspecies of white eared pheasant. This form inhabits high altitudes along exposed rockscapes and may descend to old-growth forests in winter. Its wings are dark-grey or violet.

This bird is predominantly white, including, as its name suggests, white ear tuffs, but is not as white in as many places of its body as its close relatives, the Tibetan white eared pheasant (C. c. drouyni) and the Yunnan white eared pheasant (C. c. lichiangnse). It has black tail feathers and wingtips, and a patch of black at the top of its head. The primary feathers range from dark grey to brown. The part of its face not covered by feathers has red skin.
Reproduction

The Szechuan white eared pheasant will not mate until it is two years old, then it will go into a heated breeding frenzy around the end of April. The breeding lasts until June and these pheasants usually produce four to seven eggs per clutch. The incubation period for eggs is 24–25 days.

Although not much sexual dimorphism exists among the Szechuan white eared pheasant, the cocks are considerably larger than the hens. They can reach a length of 86–96 cm and weigh 1400–2050 g for females and 2350–2750 g for males.[5]
Conservation status

The Szechuan white eared pheasant has now become a near-threatened species. Human development and encroaching on its habitat in agricultural China has reduced the range of the species, and hunting of these pheasants for food has threatened their numbers severely.[1]

An estimated 6,700 to 33,000 individuals exist in the wild today.[6] C. crossoptilon is informally protected by the area’s Tibetan Buddhist culture.[6]
See also

List of endangered and protected species of China

References

BirdLife International (2016). "Crossoptilon crossoptilon". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22679292A92809416. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679292A92809416.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
"Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
Beolens, Bo (2003). Whose bird?: Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. Internet Archive. London : Christopher Helm. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7136-6647-2.
Drovetski, Sergei V. (1996). "Influence of the Trailing-Edge Notch on Flight Performance of Galliforms". Auk. 113 (4): 802–810. doi:10.2307/4088858.
Handbook of the Birds of the World Lynx Edicions Barcelona
"White Eared-pheasant (Crossoptilon crossoptilon) - BirdLife species factsheet". www.birdlife.org. Retrieved 21 December 2020.