Afforestation helps `pearl of grasslands'

In addition to helping prevent mudslides, the government's Plains Land Afforestation Project hopes to give Taiwan's endangered ring-necked pheasant back its habitat, forestry officials said yesterday.

The ring-necked pheasant, also known as the "Pearl of the Grasslands," is a protected species under Taiwan's Wild Animals Protection Law (野生動物保育法).

As its living space continues to shrink, its population has diminished to 1,400, 516 of which live in Hualien County.

"Development on the plains over the past four decades has destroyed the habitat of the ring-necked pheasant," said Y Star Huang (黃裕星), the director-general of the forestry bureau at the Council of Agriculture.

"In addition to its ever-shrinking habitat, contamination from pesticides as well as human encroachment has made sightings of the Taiwan ring-necked pheasant rare."

The ring-necked pheasant has a red face and a white ring around its neck.

There are 29 Asian pheasant species, of which Taiwan's ring-necked pheasant is one.

Taiwan's rare variety of the species lives mostly on the island's plains and near sugar cane.

They mostly eat insects, leaves, crops and seeds.

Taiwan ring-necked pheasants can be found in eastern Taiwan, in Taitung and Hualien, and the sugar-cane area of Tainan in western Taiwan.

The disappearance of the ring-necked pheasant's habitat is particularly severe in western Taiwan, due to the changing use of cultivated land, Huang said.

In Taiwan, large areas of sugar-cane land have been converted into industrial areas, schools and hospitals.

The construction of highways and railways are also responsible for the destruction of the pheasants' habitat.

The main difference between the Taiwan ring-necked pheasant and foreign varieties of the bird is the white feather on its abdomen near the side of its wings. The plumage of the bird's barred tail is olive green and its stripes are wider than that of other species of Asian pheasant.

Interbreeding between non-Taiwanese Asian species has also affected the existence of the Taiwan ring-necked pheasant, Huang said.

Non-Taiwanese pheasants from the US are sometimes imported to Taiwan for manufacturing plume products.

"Mating with foreign species that have gone wild has destroyed the purity of the Taiwan variety and made the it vulnerable to extinction," Huang said.