Cheer Pheasant:
It is observed that hunting and habitat degradation remain the biggest threats of ground-dwelling Cheer Pheasant.
- It is also known as Wallich’s pheasant or chir pheasant and belongs to the pheasant family, Phasianidae.
- It is found in steep, rocky hillsides studded with scrub, stunted trees and grassy slopes.
- Distribution: Western Himalayas from northern Pakistan through Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to central Nepal.
- The cheer pheasant’s nest is a simple ground scrape, tucked beneath undergrowth or sheltered by rocks.
- It exhibits high natal philopatry—individuals often return to, or remain near, the area where they were born to breed.
- It depends on early successional grasslands created by traditional grass cutting and burning practice
- It depends on items such as roots, tubers, bulbs, buried seeds and possibly insect larvae and earthworms.
- Conservation Status
- IUCN: Vulnerable
- CITES: Appendix I
- Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
