Experts to map population of birds as peafowl numbers exceed estimate by 10 times
Researchers from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi have found 4,000-5,000 green peafowl in Phayao province.
They intend to make a map of birds around the country to record the actual population.
The new number is 10 times higher than the previous study which estimated only 400-500 peafowl in Khao Sanam Priang Wildlife Sanctuary.
Tananun Chotprasertkhun, a researcher funded by the Asahi Glass Foundation, who is studying peafowl in the northern region, is trying to figure out the exact number of the population for ecotourism management.
She said that peafowl are an indicator of the abundance of forest and whether the forest has a suitable eco-system for the flora and fauna.
She said that the birds and the locals have conflicts due to the expansion of human residential and agricultural zones where peafowl come to find food.
The idea of ecotourism will help them live in harmony and the model community will be the Huai Khao Kam subdistrict in Phayao province.
The peafowl is under Thailand’s wildlife protection and it is listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of endangered species.