Green peafowl thriving in China: population surges to over 820 in a decade

The number of green peafowls in China has doubled over the past 10 years, and the population has grown to more than 820 this year, according to the latest statistics by the Yunnan provincial forest and grassland bureau.

In China, the birds exclusively inhabit Yunnan province, and Shuangbai county in the province's Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture has the largest population of them. Last month, the number of green peafowls monitored by infrared cameras reached 430 — over seven times as many as the 56 recorded in 2015, said Wang Sineng, the director of the Dinosaur River Prefectural Nature Reserve in Shuangbai.

"According to genetic identification results, green peafowls in China are not entirely the same as those in any other country," Wang said.

Bird expert Yang Xiaojun from the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, explained that the species is found in seven countries: China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos.