A pheasant found in southeastern Tibet and one locality in northeastern India. Its blue-gray plumage, white throat band and long, drooping tail are distinctive.
Its plumage is blue-gray, with bare facial skin, short ear-tufts, a white band beneath the chin and a long, drooping tail. The sexes have similar colors.
Tibetan Eared-pheasants live in Tibet, China, and belong to the same genus as White, Blue and Brown Eared-pheasants. Tibetan and White Eared-pheasants share similarities in morphology and ecology but differ in plumage colour.
A 2015 study investigated relationships beyond these differences in colour. Researchers read mitochondrial DNA from preserved tissue collected in Nagqu, Tibet. The mitochondrial sequence obtained for the Tibetan Eared-pheasant comprised 16,682 base pairs, providing material for comparison with other eared-pheasants.
Comparisons of four species placed the Tibetan Eared-pheasant especially close to the White Eared-pheasant. The Blue Eared-pheasant instead paired with the Brown Eared-pheasant. Mitochondrial DNA supplied another clue to their evolutionary relationships alongside the visible differences in plumage.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
BirdLife’s 2024 global assessment lists the species as Least Concern. Its global population has not been quantified, and the trend is suspected to be stable. Much of its habitat is remote and little disturbed, although hunting and habitat impacts from activities such as grazing are identified locally. Continued monitoring of population and habitat trends is identified as a conservation action.