Mountain peacock-pheasant  (Polyplectron inopinatum)

Fortunately, the limited habitat where this bird is found has not been under any great threat since it is not ideal for human settlement, agricultural use or traditional logging. There was a proposed road development linking the hill stations of Genting Highlands, Fraser’s Hill and Cameron Highlands, which threatened to destroy, degrade and fragment a substantial area of this species’ montane habitat, but this has since been cancelled (5).

The mountain peacock-pheasant occurs in at least three protected areas, Taman Negara, Krau Wildlife Reserve and the very small Fraser’s Hill Wildlife Sanctuary (2). The Malaysian Wildlife Department has also established an international conservation breeding programme with the World Pheasant Association to try to ensure the continued survival of this species (6). To aid this, an International Studbook was published in 1992 as a measure to conserve the captive gene pool for the future, and is jointly managed by the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks and the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo, New York (5). Captive-bred populations not only provide a buffer against total extinction, but also provide the potential for re-introductions into the wild. Indeed, the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks, aided by the World Pheasant Association, is currently using captive stock in a re-introduction project to bolster numbers in the wild (7), and a number of UK-bred birds have recently been returned to Malaysia to strengthen the mountain peacock-pheasant’s wild population in its native country (6). Such conservation efforts are positive steps towards saving and preserving this little-understood bird in its natural environment.