China's Wildlife Wonders
by Susan Lumpkin

Upon their first appearance outside of China, giant pandas (See Giant Pandas) catapulted from shadowy obscurity in the mist-shrouded mountains of Sichuan to the spotlight of international wildlife stardom. But other spectacular species that share the giant panda’s remote and rugged habitat remain virtually unknown to the Western public. "Discovered" for Western science, along with the giant panda, by Pere Armand David in the late 1860s, animals named takin, serow, tufted deer, and golden monkey fail even to evoke an image in most non-Chinese minds.

Take takin, or Budorcas taxicolor (not that that helps most of us to picture it!). Weighing up to 650 pounds and standing more than four feet at the shoulder, takin are stocky, thickset, long-haired beasts that might pass for a weird, impossible cross between a moose, a cow and a bear. In fact, the takin’s closest cousin is the musk ox. And, although sometimes called golden-fleeced cows, takins are more closely related to sheep and goats than to cows.

Takins inhabit rugged, mountainous terrain, ranging from 4,000 to 12,000 feet where they break trails in dense thickets of rhododendron and bamboo to travel between foraging areas. Zoologist George Schaller, who observed these animals during his study of giant pandas in China, documented the catholic food habits of takin. According to Schaller, "takins eat almost any plant within reach of their broad mouths," including the tough leaves of evergreen rhododendron and oak, willow and pine bark, horsetails, bamboo leaves and a variety of more succulent, new-growth leaves and herbs. Schaller also noted an unusual feature of the takin’s social system. Groups of young takin - Schaller saw up to 16 - are often tended by just one "baby-sitting" female while the other mothers forage and socialize.

Although little known, serow (Capricornus sumatraensis) are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical Asia, including the mountains of Sichuan. Serow are relatively small ungulates, weighing up to 300 pounds, with long tasseled ears, short sharp horns, and short solid hooves. The Chinese name for the serow means "cliff donkey," but serow are related not to donkeys but to mountain goats and chamois. In Sichuan these fairly solitary animals live on cliffs and on brush-covered mountains between 3,000 and 12,000 feet, where they have been described as "adept at dashing wildly down impassible precipices." Serow are thought to be selective browsers on leaves and other plant parts, but few particulars are known about their food habits, or, indeed, about other aspects of their behavior and ecology.

Tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus) little resemble white-tails or other typical deer species. Along with the muntjacs, to which they are closely related, tufted deer stand just 25 inches at the shoulder, and the male’s very small, unbranched antlers are almost completely hidden by tufts of hair on the forehead. Males also possess very undeer-like, long, sharp canine teeth that extend like small tusks or fangs over the bottom lip. Male tufted deer probably use these canines in fights with other males; male muntjacs use their similarly long, canines in fights over territory and females. In Sichuan, tufted deer live at high altitudes, up to about 15,000 feet, in high valley and mountain forests.

Another of China’s endangered treasures is the golden monkey (Pygathrix roxellana), which ranges from the high mountain forests of Sichuan to the Tibetan border. These beautiful long haired monkeys have orange fur on much of their body and pale-blue patches above the eyes and nose. One observer said, "...their nose looks as if a bright blue butterfly was sitting with its wings open in the middle of their face...."

The arboreal golden monkeys are leaf-eaters, but supplement their diet with fruit, seeds, insects, birds, and bird eggs. They live in large troops of up to 600 individuals, but where their habitat is disturbed, troops may number only 30 to 100 monkeys. The troops are subdivided in to small groups composed of one adult male, five adult females, and their offspring. Little more is known about golden monkeys, although studies are now underway in China. ‘One well-known fact, however, is that they are endangered. Long hunted for their fur (for making coats) and other body parts (for use in traditional medicine), golden monkeys are now most threatened by continued habitat destruction.

Fantastic Pheasants

The mountains of Sichuan are home to nine of the worlds 48 species of pheasant. These large, forest-dwelling game birds are best known for the often spectacular plumage of males. While female pheasants’ drab markings in shades of brown and gray blend into the colors of the forest, male markings are like bright beacons, with bold patterns in brilliant colors. The males of two of Sichuan’s pheasant species are among the gaudiest.

Lady Amherst’s pheasants, also known as flower pheasants, shine with patches of crimson, yellow, orange, blue, and metallic green. Golden pheasants glitter with a long, bright-yellow crest and crimson underparts and spots of green, blue and more red and yellow on their band and tail.

Other Sichuan pheasants include Temminck’s tragopan, the white-eared pheasant (both of which can be seen at the Zoo), and the endangered Chinese monal. All of the pheasant species, which with one exception live in Asia, are threatened. They are good to eat and have been intensely hunted throughout their range. As sedentary ground nesters and feeders, they are vulnerable to habitat destruction and the impact of livestock, such as goats, which compete with them for food. Reserves designed to protect pandas, takin, and golden monkeys, however, may also help to protect these avian wildlife wonders.

(ZooGoer 21(2) 1992. Copyright 1992 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.)



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