Alectoris chukar (J. E. Gray, 1830)
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Much research still needs to be done to determine the habits and needs of Alectoris chukar. Information is somewhat limited in many areas of their natural history. In addition, research can be done to determine the current relatedness of North American chukars to the original old world subspecies (Christensen1996).
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| Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Alectoris_chukar/ |
Fourteen subspecies of Alectoris chukar are currently recognized. Populations in North America are thought to derive from an Indian subspecies, A. c. chukar, though several subspecies have probably intermixed. The native distribution ranges across mountainous areas of the Middle East and Asia from eastern Greece and southeastern Bulgaria through Asia Minor east to Manchuria China. The chukar has been successfully introduced to North America, Hawaii and New Zealand as a game species. In North America, successful populations have established themselves in mountainous, rocky, arid areas throughout the western states and the current distribution is centered around the Great Basin area, including Nevada, western Utah, southwestern Idaho, northeastern California, and southeastern Oregon. In the east, game farm birds are released for hunting, but successful populations have not established themselves (Christensen 1996; Del Hoyo 1994).
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Introduced ); palearctic (Native ); australian (Introduced ); oceanic islands (Introduced )
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| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Alectoris_chukar/ |
More info on this topic.
This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.
There are 12 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.
Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.
See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.
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occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
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More info on this topic.
This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):
220 Rocky Mountain juniper
238 Western juniper
239 Pinyon - juniper
241 Western live oak
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 12
Specimens with Barcodes: 13
Species With Barcodes: 1
Canada
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Present
Confidence: Confident
Type of Residency: Year-round
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Present
Confidence: Confident
Type of Residency: Year-round
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| Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
| Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Alectoris+chukar |
More info on this topic.
This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):
K024 Juniper steppe woodland
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K040 Saltbush - greasewood
K055 Sagebrush steppe
Alectoris chukar are not globally threatened. In most areas, populations are stable or increasing, though habitat loss and intensive hunting may affect some local populations in their native distribution. There may be some concern for wild populations due to the possibility of disease transmission from domestic chickens and turkeys. In North America, they have been managed for hunting since their introduction. In most areas, states try to increase hunting through liberal bag-limits and long hunting seasons to overcome low yields due to the inaccessible and remote nature of their habitat. Habitat management includes developing and improving water sources. Monitoring populations through different methods of collaring and radio-transmitters has been explored (Christensen 1996; Del Hoyo 1994; Waters et al. 1994).
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
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| Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
| Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Alectoris_chukar/ |