CreatureData

Kalij pheasant

Lophura leucomelanos (Latham, 1790)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos) is a species in the family Phasianidae, order Galliformes. Recorded adults weigh 794 g to 1.18 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos)
Photo: Mprasannak · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the kalij pheasant

Weight
794 g – 1.18 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Omnivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
25 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
7.15 – 7.3src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the kalij pheasant live?

Not recorded

What is the kalij pheasant?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos), or simply kalij, is a pheasant found in forests and thickets, especially in the Himalayan foothills, from India, Nepal, Pakistan to western Thailand. Males are rather variable depending on the subspecies involved, but all have at least partially glossy bluish-black plumage, while females are overall brownish. Both sexes have a bare red face and greyish legs (the latter separating it from the red-legged silver pheasant). It is generally widespread, though three of its eastern subspecies (L. l. oatesi, L. l. lineata, and L. l. crawfurdi) are considered threatened and L. l. moffitti is virtually unknown in the wild.

The name is also spelled kaleege in old texts, such as Game Birds of India and Asia by Frank Finn, though no longer in his Indian Sporting Birds. The species was introduced to Hawaii in 1962 as a gamebird. On 21 October 2021, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir declared the kalij pheasant as bird of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

From the Wikipedia article “Kalij pheasant” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kalij_pheasant&oldid=1373697811), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the kalij pheasant endangered?

The kalij pheasant is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the kalij pheasant classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderGalliformes
  5. familyPhasianidae
  6. genusLophura
  7. SpeciesLophura leucomelanos (Latham, 1790)

Synonyms Gennaeus leucomelanos, Lophura leucomelana, Phasianus coloratus

Other names and names in other languages (41)
  • تدرج كاليجArabic
  • Непалски фазанBulgarian
  • কালো মথুরাBangla
  • Fazan kalijBreton
  • faisà de LathamCatalan
  • Vacariyclt
  • bažant kalijCzech
  • bažant tmavýCzech
  • Ffesant KalijWelsh
  • KalijfasanDanish
  • KalifasanGerman
  • Kalij-FasanGerman
  • kalifazanoEsperanto
  • Faisán KalijSpanish
  • Faisán kálijSpanish
  • terasfaasanEstonian
  • teräsfasaaniFinnish
  • Faisan leucomèleFrench
  • crni fazanCroatian
  • ördögfácánHungarian
  • Fagiano kalijItalian
  • ミヤマハッカンJapanese
  • 네팔꿩Korean
  • juodoji lofuraLithuanian
  • वनमुर्गीMaithili
  • ရစ်ရင်မဲBurmese
  • कालिजNepali
  • NepalfazantDutch
  • kiściec nepalskiPolish
  • بن ککڑWestern Panjabi
  • faisão-kalijPortuguese
  • faisão-calijePortuguese
  • КалиджRussian
  • Чёрная лофураRussian
  • bažant čiernochrbtýSlovak
  • Kalij srebrni fazanSerbian
  • ไก่ฟ้าหลังเทาThai
  • Kalij SülünüTurkish
  • лофур непальськийUkrainian
  • 黑鷴Chinese
  • 黑鹇Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the kalij pheasant

Other species in the same genus Lophura.

CompareKalij pheasant vs Silver pheasantKalij pheasant vs Bulwer's pheasantKalij pheasant vs Swinhoe's pheasantKalij pheasant vs Edwards's pheasant

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the kalij pheasant?

An adult kalij pheasant weighs 794 g – 1.18 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the kalij pheasant endangered?

The kalij pheasant is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the kalij pheasant?

The kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos) belongs to the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/kalij-pheasant

MLA

“Kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/kalij-pheasant.

BibTeX
@misc{kalij_pheasant_2026,
  title = {Kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/kalij-pheasant},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}