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National bird in danger

  • 14/04/2007

The Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) has fallen on bad days. Birdwatchers ascribe this to pesticide contamination of food, poaching and habitat loss. The bird is hunted throughout its range in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Use of pesticides and insecticides in agriculture fields, however, is a bigger problem, experts say. There has been no formal or informal census to quantify what birdwatchers report. According to the "only census' by WWF India, in 1991, India was left with only 50 per cent of its peafowl population in 1947.

IUCN's Red List, however, categorises the bird as least concerned. This is because the bird is not threatened globally. It's not near the thresholds set by IUCN

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