With the alias of vermilion aigret, it belongs to the Ciconiidae family of Ciconiiformes order. Its scientific name is Nipponia nippon (Latin), or Japanese Crested Ibis (English).
It is about 79 centimeters in length and about 1.8 kilograms in weight. The male and female birds have similar feather color. Its body feathers are white, with slightly pink feather end. The occiput has long cristae in the shape of willow leaves. The bared skin from forehead to cheek is ponceau. Its primary remiges are deep pink at the base. Its 18-centimeter-long beak, slender with down-curved terminal, is black and tan with red tip. Its vermeil legs are about 9 centimeters long.
The bird inhabits in open woodlands at an elevation of 1,200 to 1,400 meters. It wades in nearby rivulets, morass and rice fields, wandering to look for fingerlings, crabs, frogs, spiral shells and other aquatic animals, as well as insects. It rests and sleeps on lofty trees. It is a resident bird, gadding in small groups to low hills and plains in autumn and winter. The bird starts to build nests in April to May, breeding one brood annually with 2 to 4 eggs, which are nattier blue with thin brown spots. Both the male and female birds take part in hatching. The squabs will break the shell in about 30 days and leave the nest after 40 days' feeding.
The bird is rare and precious in the world, mainly living at the south foot of Qinling Mountains in Yangxian County, Shaanxi Province, In the past, it was widely distributed in the east of China, Japan Russia, Korea and other places, but due to environmental deterioration and other factors the population reduced sharply; till the 1970s it could not be seen in the wild. Chinese bird experts rediscovered the bird population in Yangxian County in May of 1981 after many years of survey, and it is the only existing population of this genus in the world. Hereafter a lot of work on the protection and scientific research of this bird has been done and with prominent results. Especially in regard to feeding and breeding, the first artificial hatching is successful in 1989, and since 1992, squabs have been able to survive successfully. By 1995, the number of wild vermilion aigrets in China had reached about 35, and thebreedingnumberwas 25, thus bringing hope to save this precious bird.
Japanese Crested Ibishas been listed in Appendix I ofInternational Trade Convention on Endangered Wild Animal and Plant Species.
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