Status
Due to hunting and a reduction in extent and quality of habitat, the Green Peafowl is evaluated as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES. The world population has declined rapidly and the species no longer occurs in many areas of its past distribution. The last strongholds for the species are in protected areas such as Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand, Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam and Baluran National Park in Java, Indonesia. The population in the wild was estimated to be about 5,000 to 10,000 individuals around 1995.
Although there is no natural range overlap with the Indian Peafowl, hybridisation with the Indian Peafowl is still a threat. The two species produce fertile hybrids and feral Indian Peafowl may hybridize with wild Green Peafowl. In captivity hybrids are called "spaulding" peafowl and are used by breeders to create different breeds. Through backcrossing some hybrids become almost indistinguishable from pure Green Peafowl. Because some aviculturists refer to all races as "Java Peafowl", the subspecies of Green Peafowl are also mixed in captivity.
In 2005, The Star reported that successful reintroductions were being made in Malaysia by the World Pheasant Association (WPA). The article stated that the genetic research proved the Javan and Malay Peafowl were genetically identical and the subspecies muticus was introduced - the scientific community consensus. There has, however, been some dispute that the Malaysian and Javanese muticus birds are not identical so it is uncertain which subspecies was introduced. At least some of the birds introduced in Malaysia were actually spicifer, which was once found on the northern tip of the country.
Read more about this topic: Green Peafowl
Famous quotes containing the word status:
“At all events, as she, Ulster, cannot have the status quo, nothing remains for her but complete union or the most extreme form of Home Rule; that is, separation from both England and Ireland.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“The influx of women into paid work and her increased power raise a woman’s aspirations and hopes for equal treatment at home. Her lower wage and status at work and the threat of divorce reduce what she presses for and actually expects.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“Knowing how beleaguered working mothers truly are—knowing because I am one of them—I am still amazed at how one need only say “I work” to be forgiven all expectation, to be assigned almost a handicapped status that no decent human being would burden further with demands. “I work” has become the universally accepted excuse, invoked as an all-purpose explanation for bowing out, not participating, letting others down, or otherwise behaving inexcusably.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)