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  Profile

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  In flight

Game Birds

Western Tragopan

Tragopan melanocephalus

• epic
• 32 km/h
• Vulnerable

Pheasant with a powder-blue inflatable bib and red side flaps that unfurl in display. Himalayan, secretive, dwindling.

Population

3,200-9,500 mature individuals, decreasing (IUCN Red List assessment, 22679147/177694929, assessed 2025-06-03, criterion C2a(ii))

Habitat

Dense understorey of temperate, subalpine and broad-leaved forest in the Western Himalayas; upper temperate forest between 2,400-3,600 m in summer (brown oak, holly oak, conifers with dense understorey), descending in winter to grassy/shrubby gullies or dense coniferous/broad-leaved forest between roughly 1,750-3,000 m with less snow cover

Fun fact

The western tragopan gets its name from the Greek god Pan, after the pair of fleshy blue "horns" the male inflates above his head during his courtship display.

Range

Western Himalayas, disjunct distribution from northeastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa / Indus-Kohistan (Pakistan) east through Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh to Uttarakhand (India); known populations include Kohistan and Kaghan valley (Pakistan) and Kishtwar, Chamba and Kullu districts (India); extent of occurrence approximately 138,000 km²

Diet

Mainly leaves, shoots, roots, flowers and seeds, foraged on the ground and in trees, supplemented with insects and other invertebrates; mostly arboreal for roosting but feeds terrestrially

Size

0.575 m