westren tragopan ( Tragopan melanocephalus)

westron tragopan in Kufri Zoo india

Stunning bird, a first for me, thank you.

That's certainly not something you see every day. Thanks for posting!

Western tragopan

Any information about Western Tragopan husbandry, breeding success etc would be very welcome [please]

I would expect their husbandry not to be dissimilar to other Tragopan spp.
Satyr and Temminck's come to mind ...

Western Tragopan

So would I, but [apart from a single female in the 1970's -- which I believe produced a hybrid], there have been no Westerns in European collections [and very few even in India/Pakistan] since the 19th or very early 20th century. This species bears the same relation [rarity-wise] to Satyr & Temminck's as Sumatran Rhino does to Black or White Rhinos. Hence my fascination.

Western Tragopan

I would still like some more information about these, please.

The Saharan Aviary, which is located in the natural distribution of the western tragopan started a breeding programm in 1992. The species is however very sensetive for bacterial infections ) especialy E-coli ) and from 1992 till 2010 only 20 birds have been bred. Only a small numer of eggs hatch or very few young survaive : from 23 fertile eggs during 2009 only 2 chicks survived !
2010 started with 11 males and 12 females but 3 females were lost by infections. The remaining 9 females laid 17 eggs from which only one hatched but this also was lost due to an infection.
So as you see, not the most easy bird to breed but lets hope in the future there will be found a way how to do it right and this endangered bird can be saved !

I highly recommend India's Central Zoo Authority website; their inventory is a treasure trove for zoo enthusiasts.

As vogelcommando mentions, the [relatively] nearby Sarahan Pheasantry (which is where Kufri's two male birds came from) is home to the rest of the known captive population. Until a few years ago, a number of Sclater's monals were listed in the pheasantry, but I'm not sure what happened.

western tragopan

Attempts to propagate these rare pheasants in their countries of origin are always up against endemic disease. It might be unfashionable to say so, but I bet we could do things with Western Tragopan & Sclater's Monal in Europe [Walsrode?].