Karthik I am new to this chat... and like stay down here and observe                

      rather take part in conversation

      Madhukar Hello all.  I joined the group very recently.

      Madhukar Is this chat going to be specific to some topic or is it general?

      Karthik hello what abt today's chat on pheasants of india

      Susan Hi All of you !!

      Karthik hello susan, I am from davangere and new member of IWC...

      Susan The only pheasant most of us are familar with is the peacock.

      Recently I saw a pair of tragopans & monal and was simply bowled over by their

      beauty.

      Karthik where u saw them Susan

      Susan In Sarahan Himachal Pradesh where they are trying to breed them

      Dharma hai karthik

      Karthik ok today morning I was just trying to know abt pheasants from

      other websites.. there I got to know our zoos are not having much of our

      indian pheasants why so..?

      Karthik hello dharma

      Susan The Nainital zoo has cheer, koklas, khaleej etc.

      Karthik how many species of pheasants are there in India susan?

      Susan Pheasants other than peafowl need high altitude weather conditions.

      Could be a reason why they are not there in other zoos.

      Dharma hai every one

      Karthik quails, spurfowls, patridges do all these come under pheasants ...

      ? Susan

      Susan As far as I know, they are not pheasants

      Susan It is easy to spot khaleej pheasants in Uttarachal , in the wild.

      Karthik do we not have any pheasants ... living the forests of Western

      Ghats or in the Karnataka region? Susan

      Susan Only peafowls… Evenings you can spot them crossing the roads.

      Susan I guess there are plenty of peafowls in W.Ghats?

      Karthik ok what abt this " Crow Pheasant" ... ???

      Susan Crow pheasant is not a real pheasant

      Karthik ya its the most common bird what we can spot... ??? still we enjoy

      spotting them :)

      Susan Yes, crow pheasants are interesting esply their call

      Karthik ya susan.

      Susan Though monals & tragopans are national birds of states awareness about

      these is very little in India.

      Susan I belive the Europeans have managed breeding these in captivity

      Susan So, like the white peafowls we may soon have albino monals and

      tragopans

      Karthik even peafowls are most common when we r on treks around the

      jungles of dry shrubs and beside the fields

      Karthik what is the breeding mainly for ...? is it used for food ya... as i got to know for            ornaments...?

      Susan Seeing a tragopan can be compared only to seeing a tiger in the wild

      for the first time.  I suppose they are trying to save a bird from going extinct. Monal feathers

      used to adorn the Kinnaur Caps of wealthy persons. Now their use is banned officially.       

      Karthik ok I just thought something as farming... anyhow don't we have any

      breeding centre in india...?

    Susan Sarahan is trying to breed tragopans & monals. They have not had any

      success so far. Two years back when they had heavy snowfall all the

      pheasants in the pheasantry were eaten up by martens. So they had to start

      all over again

    Susan The pheasantry manager says he had to roam the forests for nearly

      three months to get a pair of tragopans

     Karthik who are martens?

     Susan I belive Pakistan has got a pheasant breeding centre too.

     Susan snow martens are bigger than mongooses, like rattels

     Karthik what type of animal is that " martens"

     Susan I have not seen a snow martin but have seen a yellow throated marten

      in Corbett Park

     Susan Madhukar & Dharma are you there?

     Karthik I think dharama has left...?

     Karthik He is from my place and we work together... Susan

     Susan Thanks a lot Karthik. Hope you enjoyed the chat. I shall get you the

      family name of marten soon.

      Karthik ok thanx Susan too...

      Karthik can i have ur e-mail ID so that i can keep u in touch as i am

      working on wildlife and nature conservation...

      Susan Sure, it is susan_sharma@hotmail.com.   Can we call it a day then

      Karthik ya sure

      Susan Bye & take care!

Note:

{The marten is a small, housecat-sized predator.  marten, fisher, and wolverine are all members of the weasel family.   Pheasants, partridges, quail and jungle fowl are covered under the family " phasianidae".}