A local resident of Barangay Tagburos turned over a Palawan Peacock- Pheasant (Polyplectron napoleonis) to the office of Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) on Monday morning, July 13, 2020.
The PCSD said that the bird was taken last June 15 n Barangay Bacungan, when a Tagburos resident saw children playing the wild bird. He then brought the wild bird to his home to take care of it.
Upon the help of a barangay official, the turnover of the bird to PCSD was facilitated, and the agency’s Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit (WTMU) immediately responded to the report of the barangay official.
The Palawan Peacock Pheasant is considered vulnerable based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conservation status.
“Ang Palawan Peacock Pheasant ay ikinokonsiderang ‘Vulnerable’ ayon sa International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) dahil sa pagkaubos ng tirahan nito, ito rin ay kilala bilang ‘official seal’ ng lungsod ng Puerto Prinsesa,” the agency said.
The Palawan peacock-pheasant, which is endemic in the Philippines is found in Palawan is a medium-sized or grow up to 50 centimeters long bird under the family Phasianidae. It has an erectile crest and highly iridescent electric blue-violet, metallic green-turquoise dorsal plumage. It breasts and ventral regions are dark black. Each tail plume and upper-tail covert is marked with highly iridescent, light reflective, ocelli. The tail is erected and expanded laterally together with the bodies of the birds.
Peacock-pheasants are considered invertivorous, eating isopods, earwigs, insect larvae, mollusks, centipedes and termites as well as small frogs, seeds and berries.
The Palawan peacock-pheasant is featured prominently in the culture of the indigenous peoples of Palawan. The bird is also depicted in the official seal of the city of Puerto Princesa.
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