Fun Tragopan Facts For Kids

The Temminck's tragopan, scientifically known as Tragopan temminckii, belongs to the genus Tragopan. They are fluffy and ground-living horned pheasants that got their name from the bright fleshy horns of the males, which stand straight during the courtship displays.

The genus Tropogan contains four other species: the Western tragopan melanocephalus, Satyr tragopan, Tragopan blythii, and Tragopan caboti.

All these tragopans prefer mountain and forest areas and high hilly areas for cold temperatures—they nest and breed on trees during the breeding season.

The male pheasants are more attractive, colorful, and more significant in appearance than the female. The male has an average length of 28 in 71 cm, and the female is approximately 24 inches (61 cms) in length.

The males are in attractive colors of red, orange, bright and dark blues, and white. But the female is restricted to brown and white.

If you enjoy this article, be sure to check out peacock facts and hummingbird facts.

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Tragopan Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a tragopan?

The tragopan of the genus Tragopan is a bird. It is a pheasant bird of the Phasianidae family.

What class of animal does a tragopan belong to?

The tragopan members are avians, and they belong to the class Aves.

How many tragopans are there in the world?

The tragopan has been classified into five species, which are evenly distributed amongst its habitat. Therefore, though their population is widespread, the population of these birds in the world is not evaluated.

Where does a tragopan live?

The Temminck tragopan occupies the habitat of mountains and forests. The tragopan temmeinckii is endemic to the range from northern Myanmar to northwestern Tonkin.

In general, the pheasant species are native to India, China, Myanmar, Tibet, and Nepal.

What is a trapogan's habitat?

The Temminck's tragopan prefers a habitat of forest and mountain areas with adequate trees for nests and rest. They prefer plants, berries, and plenty of vegetation in their diet. The Temminck's tragopan lives at altitudes that range between 3,000 to 12,000 ft (914.4-3657.6 m). They live in higher areas where the temperatures are extreme during winters with occasional frost.

Who do tragopans live with?

Tragopans exhibit solitary behavior. However, they are found in small groups or pairs in their range during the breeding season.

How long does a tragopan live?

The lifespan of tragopans can be for a period of 18 to 20 years in the wild and may extend in captivity.

How do they reproduce?

The breeding season of Temminck's tragopan is between March and April. The copulation is initiated by a male who performs an act of dance, inflating its lappet or wattle and two horns and flapping its wings simultaneously. This courtship display attracts the female, and after mating, the female lays three to five eggs (maximum could be 12).

The nests are built on trees, 20 ft (6.09 m) elevation from the ground, and made of sticks and twigs material. The incubation period lasts for 28 days. Two days after hatching, the chicks can fly but stay with their mother for a whole year.

What is their conservation status?

The Tenmmicks tragopan is listed as of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Pet trade and hunting for meat by humans cause concerns accounting for the decline in their population numbers.

Tragopan Fun Facts

What do Tragopans look like?

Tragopans are horned pheasants. Pheasants are sexually dimorphic, with males being immensely decked with bright colors. In addition, male birds are more extensive than female birds. Of the five species of the tragopan birds, the Temminck's tragopan and Tragopan Satyra are similar in appearance.

The Temminck's tragopan male has a broad and sturdy white-spotted, red and orange upper body plumage. It has pink legs and a black bill. Their face is blue, and the lappet and horns are coated with dark blue.

The Temminck's tragopan female has all-over brown plumage with white spots. The eye skin is encircled with blue.

The Satyr tragopan is similar to tragopan temminckii except for the whole red plumage and an orange collar.

The tragopan melanocephalus male has a very dark gray and black plumage with numerous white spots bordered with black and deep crimson patches. The back of the neck is also outlined in a similar pattern. They have a bare blue throat and bare red skin on their face. A small black occipital crest sits on the head.

The female is a pale brownish-grey with black spots. The feathers of the bird have black patches and central white streaks.

The tragopan blythii is a gray-bellied tragopan.

Cabot's tragopan is a fleshy bird. The male head is black with reddish-orange streaks on either side and on the throat and similar-colored bare skin on the cheeks and also around the eye.

Below the bill hangs a blue and orange decorative wattle. The females' heads and upper parts are reddish-brown with black spots of triangular-shaped white impressions, and their underparts are greyish-brown with white markings.

How cute are they?

The Temminck's tragopan is an exceptionally colorful elegant bird with beautiful feathers, with a non-flighty nature. They like to display themselves if a visitor stops by. They are calm, friendly, and curious birds.

How do they communicate?

The tragopans use vocalization for calls like a 'wail-waah-oo-aaa', this call is usually heard at sunrise, which gets louder as the call progresses. Their call sounds like a wah-wah during courtship and a 'wak-wak' call when uncovered from a refuge during courtship.

The males of this species exhibit visual cues such as displaying their facial skin, lappet, horns, or crest to attract females during courtship.

How big is a Tragopan?

The Temminck's tragopan weight on average is 4.4 lb (2 kg), the length is 25.2 in (64 cm), and a wingspan between 10 to 11 in (25.4-27.9 cm) which is three times less than the Indian peafowl.

How fast can a tragopan fly?

The tragopan family birds belong to the Phasianidae family. The birds of this group are ground-living birds, but they can fly as soon as two days after they hatch. However, they are not known to fly high above and for long distances.

How much does a tragopan weigh?

The weight is gender-based in tragopans.

The male birds weigh from 4.0 to 4.9 lb (1.8 to 2.2 kg), and that of the females is 2.8 to 3.1 lb (1.25 to 1.4 kg).

What are the male and female names of the species?

The tragopans are sexually dimorphic, in their body dimensions, anatomy, and colors. The males are appealingly colorful than the females. But the male and female birds of this species are called as male tragopans and female tragopans.

What would you call a baby tragopan?

A baby tragopan is called a chick.

What do they eat?

The tragopan diet mainly consists of herbs, plants, berries, grass. Their diet also includes insects.

Are they dangerous?

Known to be friendly birds, these birds can get aggressive, they get threatened enough to attack humans during breeding seasons, and some attack humans throughout the year and generally target the head or legs

Would they make a good pet?

Temminck's tragopan is an unusual bird with a peaceful nature and can quickly calm down. It is a friendly and curious bird. Those with spacious accommodations and with proper training can have one as a pet.

Also, to note that it is ideal to avoid having them as pets as populations of these pheasants in the world are decreasing due to the pet trade.

Did you know...

Pheasants are endemic to Asia, but in the 11th century, they were native to Europe and discovered by Romans. They got extinct by the 19th century but once again originated in the Asian mountains.

The Western tragopan is scientifically known as Tragopan melanocephalus.

The Satyr tragopan is known as Tragopan Satyra.

The Blyth's tragopan is called Tragopan blythii and, the Cabot's tragopan is known as Tragopan caboti.

The tail feathers of Tragopan temminckii are black, and the chin is blue. The wing length of males ranges from 9.6 to 11.2 in (24.4-28.4 cm), and the wing length of females is between 8.5 to 9.6 in (21.6-24,4 cm).

This Tragopan temminckii can be seen in the Harewood house bird garden.

A Tragopan temminckii lays three clutches of eggs per season.

The Western tragopan diet contains seeds, grubs, roots, leaves, flowers, berries, and insects. this species is endangered due to foraging of the forest by livestock, hunting, and habitat degradation.

What is the difference between a Western tragopan and a regular tragopan?

Unlike the other tragopan species with the lappet on the neck, the western tragopan has a bare blue throat, and the red facial skin is bare. In addition, western tragopans have a small occipital crest which is black.

Why is a tragopan also called a horned pheasant?

Tragopans are generally called horned pheasants as the males possess two bright-colored fleshy horns crowned on their heads. These stand straight during mating as an act of courtship display.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds including blue jay facts and rainbow bee-eater facts.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Tragopan coloring pages.