Galliformes are particularly hard hit by intensive farming practices that remove hedgerows Wildlife biologist John Carroll chairs the International Partrige, Quail, and Francolin Specialist Group, part of World Conservation Union. and field borders and rely heavily on pesticides and herbicides. Carroll and colleagues are working to restore some populations even as they report that others are slipping away. In some ways, we're optimistic because as we highlight their plight, people become concerned, and we've gotten some research funded. Among the most threatened are the Himalayan Quail, the Oscillated Turkey and Edward's Pheasant, which was thought to already be extinct before a few were spotted in 1996. The red jungle fowl, the ancestor of the common yard chicken is widely distributed in Asia, but new evidence suggests that the wild stock is being hybridized by domestic chickens.
Scientists worry because wild genes often hold the key to disease resistance among domestic flocks.
Scientists formed the Partridge, Quail and Francolin Specialist Group in 1991 to address the problems. Since then they have conducted population and The Golden Pheasant, the national bird of China, has blue wings, a red breast and an iridescent golden head. Practical solutions are urgent. Several of the Galliforme species are already extinct. Others hang on in small pockets of habitat and face an uncertain future.