The Mikado Pheasant: The King on the Back of the NT$1,000 Bill — The Easier You Meet It, the More You Should Step Back

30-Second Overview: In 1906, British explorer Walter Goodfellow identified the Taiwan endemic bird later named the Mikado pheasant from two long black-and-white tail feathers on a Tsou indigenous chief’s headdress. It inhabits cloud forests at altitudes of 1,800 to 3,800 meters, yet has entered everyone’s daily life through the New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) 1,000 bill. What is truly counter-intuitive is this: the 2024 Taiwan Bird Red List assesses it as “Least Concern,” yet it remains a precious and rare protected wild animal under the law; a stable population does not mean people can get closer. ¹

Two Tail Feathers, Later Printed on a Banknote

In 1906, Walter Goodfellow saw two long, bright black tail feathers with white crossbands on a Tsou indigenous chief’s headdress. They were sent to the UK for identification, leaving the Japanese transliteration of “Emperor,” mikado, in its scientific name. The Chinese world thus named it the “Mikado Pheasant.” In more rigorous taxonomic terms, it is also called the Black Pheasant (Syrmaticus mikado). ²

This name easily leads people to misunderstand it as a bird displayed for appreciation in a window case. In fact, the Mikado pheasant belongs to the order Galliformes, family Phasianidae, and genus Syrmaticus; it is an endemic species found only in Taiwan. Males are about 72 to 87 cm long, with bright black plumage revealing a blue iridescence and a ring of red bare skin around the eyes. Females are about 46 to 52 cm long, with brown plumage that allows them to blend into the forest understory. ²

Placing the two appearances together is like splitting the high-altitude night and the leaf litter layer into a pair of birds. They also entered the daily lives of Taiwanese: the two birds on the back of the NTD 1,000 bill are Mikado pheasants. The banknote magnifies them, but the forest hides them. This contrast is the starting point for understanding the Mikado pheasant. ²

In March 2014, a male Mikado pheasant at the 46.5 km mark of the Dasyueshan Forest Road in Taichung. Photo: Cataloging Nature, licensed under CC BY 2.0; this article embeds the image via the Wikimedia Commons hotlink, without downloading the image.

Wikimedia Commons

📝 Curator’s Note

A banknote makes one think they already know the Mikado pheasant, but it恰好 (just) obscures the most important thing: it is not a symbol of Taiwan’s high mountains, but an animal that must survive relying on a complete forest, leaf litter, and a sense of distance. Identifying it does not mean owning it.

2,300 Meters Altitude Is Not a Safety Line

The Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Affairs’ species data describes the Mikado pheasant’s habitat very specifically: high-altitude areas at 1,800 to 3,800 meters with frequent cloud and mist, specifically the understory of mixed coniferous and broadleaf forests and coniferous forests. It eats flowers, fruits, tender shoots, seeds, as well as earthworms and small insects. Rather than flying into open skies, it more often moves quietly along forest edges, leaf litter, and forest road surfaces. ²

Yushan National Park’s compiled surveys point out that the Mikado pheasant is most frequently recorded in the park at altitudes of 2,300 to 2,550 meters, frequently using sites with slopes of 30 to 60 degrees and abundant ground vegetation and leaf cover. It utilizes secondary forests and artificial afforestation areas, and there is also a phenomenon of moving to lower altitudes in winter. These data remind us that what the Mikado pheasant needs is not a label reading “primary forest,” but a forest structure that still provides cover, food, and safe corridors. ³

Forest roads are a contradictory part of this structure. They allow researchers, rangers, and general hikers the opportunity to see the Mikado pheasant, but also bring people, vehicles, and cameras onto the surfaces where it often forages. When humans treat “easy to see” as “should approach,” a road that could originally connect the mountains and forests may become a boundary of concentrated pressure.

The breeding season falls roughly between April and August. Females build nests under rocks or in other concealed places, lining them with dead branches and leaves. When in pairs, males often stay around the female and remain on alert. For hikers, such an encounter might be a lucky photo; for the Mikado pheasant, it may be happening during the time when courtship, foraging, or raising chicks requires the most quiet. ²

In March 2014, a female Mikado pheasant at the 46.5 km mark of the Dasyueshan Forest Road in Taichung. Photo: Cataloging Nature, licensed under CC BY 2.0; this article embeds the image via the Wikimedia Commons hotlink, without downloading the image.

Wikimedia Commons

Protected Areas Are Not a Seamless Green

Yushan National Park has estimated, based on historical surveys, that there are at least 11,000 Mikado pheasants in the park. Tataka, Junlin Forest Road, Batokung Ancient Trail, and Wulai Trail are places where it is easier to encounter them. This number is comforting, but it does not mean the national population has no risks, nor can it be simplified into a promotional label saying “there are many Mikado pheasants.” ³

A 2002 study on the Mikado pheasant’s habitat and conservation status, using available data at the time, estimated that about 39% of the Mikado pheasant’s distribution range in Taiwan was located within national parks or protected areas, and speculated that there might be 6,477 square kilometers of usable habitat. The author explicitly pointed out that the model underestimated the actual distribution range. These numbers are therefore more like a historical slice for understanding the protected area network, rather than a total population count that can be directly applied today. ⁴

This study also recorded that the activity ranges of Mikado pheasants in two study sites in Yushan were small, and no individuals were observed crossing the approximately 400-meter gap between the two sites. This cannot be exaggerated into “Mikado pheasants definitely cannot cross 400 meters,” but it is enough to remind us: high-altitude forests may seem connected on a map, but for a bird that mainly moves in the understory, the actual path it can walk may be narrower than humans imagine. ⁴

Researchers also saw different population signals in different breeding sites: primary forest study sites were more stable, while secondary forest study sites showed a decline between 1989 and 1999. The article lists poorer breeding results, increased nest predators, cooler and wetter weather during the incubation period, and poaching pressure as possible contexts. This is a study of a specific era and location, insufficient to declare national trends, but it retains the most important common sense of conservation: protected areas are not a green patch that is forever safe once stamped. ⁴

📝 Curator’s Note

We often think of nature reserves as a bounded safe box. The Mikado pheasant’s data instead seems to say something else: conservation is more like maintaining a net; when the mesh is too large, the forests on the map remain, but the paths animals can walk have decreased.

Why Can “Least Concern” and Protected Species Status Coexist?

The Mikado pheasant’s conservation status seems contradictory at first glance. The Institute of Biodiversity and Organic Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Affairs stated in 2024 that it is rated as Least Concern in the 2024 Taiwan Bird Red List, meaning the population is currently stable and there is no immediate risk of extinction. The same official reply also reiterated that it is still announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Affairs as a Precious and Rare Protected Wild Animal in Taiwan. ¹

The two judgments do not overturn each other. The Red List asks “how high is the risk of extinction given the evidence currently available”; the legal protected status restricts behaviors such as harassment, abuse, hunting, illegal trade, and habitat destruction. The former is an assessment; the latter is a defense line. ^{1 2}

The Mikado pheasant was once threatened by hunting pressure and habitat destruction; the beauty of its tail feathers even made males a target for poachers’ coveting. After the Wildlife Conservation Act was passed in 1989, conservation measures and protected area systems gradually changed the environment it faced. Today’s “Least Concern” should be read more as these defense lines are still functioning, rather than that the defense lines can be removed. ²

This is why “the Mikado pheasant population is recovering” cannot be directly followed by “we no longer need to care.” Conservation work is most easily misunderstood as the last moment of rescuing endangered species. In fact, the more difficult stage is when the situation has just stabilized, continuing to guard those inconspicuous conditions that will not immediately make the news.

A Genome Map Cannot Speak for the Forest

In 2018, a research team published a whole-genome study of the Mikado pheasant, reporting a genome of approximately 1.04 Gb and 15,972 annotated protein-coding genes. The study found expansion or positive selection signals in genes related to energy metabolism, oxygen transport, hemoglobin binding, immune response, and DNA repair. These findings provide important clues for understanding how the Mikado pheasant adapts to high-altitude environments. ⁵

The study also used mitochondrial data and molecular clocks to estimate that the Mikado pheasant’s ancestors may have entered Taiwan from the north about 3.47 million years ago. This timescale pulls a bird foraging with its head down on a mountain path back into the long period of Taiwan’s island formation, isolation, and evolution. It is not a “pheasant that is very good at climbing mountains,” but a species filtered by the environment over a long period on this mountain island. ⁵

However, the value of genomic research should not be written as a myth. The Institute of Biodiversity and Organic Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Affairs specifically reminded that whole-genome decoding means humans understand this species’ genetic information better, but it does not represent successful rehabilitation. Science can help us see clues of adaptation, but it cannot stop poaching for the Mikado pheasant, clear human food it is fed, or automatically regrow severed understory corridors. ¹

Scientific American’s (Ke-xue Yue-kan) summary of this study also mentioned that genomic data can assist in subsequent understanding of population size, genetic diversity, and possible harmful mutations. In other words, the genome map is more like a more precise diagnostic tool. It improves our ability to judge, but it does not make conservation decisions for us. ⁶

A Slice of Bread Turns Wild Birds into Performances

The Mikado pheasant is not always hiding in the fog. Precisely because there is a higher chance of encountering it in places like Dasyueshan and Tataka, it also bears another kind of pressure: people hope it appears in front of the lens, stays a bit longer, and gets a bit closer. The Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Affairs’ “Five Nos” for birdwatching are direct: Do not scare, do not lure, do not chase, do not destroy, do not capture. ²

In 2024, the Environmental Information Center reposted an on-site observation from Dasyueshan, recording a male Mikado pheasant picking up bread, rice, and leftovers, with surrounding tourists stopping to take photos. This is a single case and cannot be used to infer the status of the entire population; but it clearly captures the problem: when wild birds become predictable because of human food, the most precious encounters in the forest will slowly be transformed into performances for people to wait for. ⁷

Feeding is not an enlarged version of kindness; it changes the rules of interaction. Human food is not necessarily suitable for birds’ nutritional needs. More importantly, humans exchange food for closeness, causing animals to link humans with available rewards. For a wild bird protected by law, the best closeness is not it walking to your shoes, but it still being able to choose not to get close. ⁷

If you encounter a Mikado pheasant on a mountain path, the smallest action is the most difficult one: stop, let it decide where to go itself. Do not block the path, do not exchange food for photos, do not chase it. If you discover suspected bird nets, hunting tools, or other illegal activities in a protected area, Yushan National Park recommends reporting directly to park management personnel, rather than treating suspicious objects as another photo. ³

Let It Stay in the Forest, Not Just on the Banknote

The Mikado pheasant has gone from two tail feathers, a taxonomic list, to a banknote that everyone has touched; it has also gone from a history threatened by hunting and habitat destruction to today’s “Least Concern” assessment. This path was not walked out by itself; it is the space left by the forest, protected areas, researchers, and those willing to step back.

Next time you encounter it in Dasyueshan or Tataka, you can remember a question that doesn’t quite look like a travel guide rule: If I really love this bird today, do I take a closer photo, or do I take its right to continue hiding in the understory?

What is most worth remembering about the Mikado pheasant may not be how much it looks like a king. It is more like a reminder: a wild animal being seen by us is often not because it is finally not afraid of people, but because there is still a place that allows it not to learn to please people.

Further Reading:

• Yushan National Park: The King in the Mist, Mikado Pheasant Population Stable — Habitat, population estimates, and information on reporting illegal hunting tools in the Yushan park.
• Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Affairs: The King in the Mist — Mikado Pheasant — Species identification, breeding season, diet, and the “Five Nos” principle for birdwatching.
• PubMed: Mikado Pheasant Whole-Genome Study — English original paper abstract and high-altitude adaptation research data.

Image Sources

• Male Mikado Pheasant, Dasyueshan Forest Road 46.5K — Photo by Cataloging Nature, CC BY 2.0; this article embeds the image via the Wikimedia Commons hotlink, without downloading the image.
• Female Mikado Pheasant, Dasyueshan Forest Road 46.5K — Photo by Cataloging Nature, CC BY 2.0; this article embeds the image via the Wikimedia Commons hotlink, without downloading the image.

References