Crested argus  (Rheinardia ocellata)

The crested argus is threatened by habitat degradation, fragmentation and loss, both within and outside protected areas. Although the bird can survive in small pockets of forest, habitat fragmentation isolates populations, which results in reduced fitness through inbreeding. The greatest damage is caused by commercial logging, illegal timber extraction, clearance for agricultural plantations, encroachment by shifting cultivators and road-building (7). Indeed, the tendency for paths and logging roads to be constructed along the crests of spurs and ridges concentrates disturbance and hunting in precisely the areas favoured by crested argus for their calling and display arenas (9). Hunting pressure compounds these threats (2), with snaring at display arenas being a common practice in many regions of Laos and Vietnam (9), and posing a more significant danger than deforestation in some areas (7). Very little is known about the Malaysian population, which is found at a higher altitude than the Vietnamese birds in just one or two locations in the mountains near the border of the Taman Negara National Park (4). This subspecies is much rarer than the Vietnamese race and has only once been seen in captivity (4).

The crested argus is protected by its listing on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (5). The bird occurs in numerous protected areas, including Bach Ma National Park and at least ten nature reserves in Vietnam, at least two designated and two proposed National Biodiversity Conservation Areas in Laos, and Taman Negara National Park in Malaysia (7). In the Gunung Rabong and Gunung Gagau areas of the Taman Negara National Park in Malaysia, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks has provided protection since 1972 for the very small remaining population of this species (8). The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is working in areas in Vietnam through the MOSAIC project (Management of Strategic Areas for Integrated Conservation), which involves working with both local villagers and forest officials to design and implement sustainable management practices (2). Several captive breeding initiatives are in progress, but none have resulted in any re-introductions into the wild. Posters highlighting the plight of the species and an appeal to stop hunting it have been distributed within the bird's range in Laos by the Wildlife Conservation Society's Lao programme (9). However, further locally targeted conservation-awareness initiatives are desperately needed across Vietnam, combined with the strict enforcement of hunting regulations in protected areas (7), if this astonishing and spectacular, long-tailed bird is to survive.