Western tragopan
Tragopan melanocephalus (J. E. Gray, 1829)
The western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) is a species in the family Phasianidae, order Galliformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.33 kg to 1.98 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.

Quick facts about the western tragopan
- Weight
- 1.33 kg – 1.98 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 28 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 17.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Lifestyle
- Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the western tragopan
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Where does the western tragopan live?
Not recorded
What is the western tragopan?
The western tragopan or western horned tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) is a medium-sized brightly plumed landfowl found along the range of Western Himalayas from north-eastern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan in the west to Uttarakhand within India to the east. The species is highly endangered and globally threatened.
From the Wikipedia article “Western tragopan” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_tragopan&oldid=1350641142), 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 western tragopan endangered?
The western tragopan is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species. What the categories mean.
How is the western tragopan classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderGalliformes
- familyPhasianidae
- genusTragopan
- SpeciesTragopan melanocephalus (J. E. Gray, 1829)
Synonyms Phasianus melanocephalus, Phasianus nepaulensis, Tragopan hastingsii, Tragopan melanocephaus
Other names and names in other languages (49)
- Black-headed tragopanEnglish
- Black-headed tragopanEnglish
- Western horned-pheasantEnglish
- Western horned-pheasantEnglish
- Western tragopan pheasantEnglish
- Western TtragopanEnglish
- Western TtragopanEnglish
- ترجبان غربيArabic
- دراج المقرن الغربيArabic
- Черноглав трагопанBulgarian
- Tragopan ar c'hornôgBreton
- tragopan occidentalCatalan
- satyr černohlavýCzech
- ffesant gorniog y GorllewinWelsh
- Vestlig TragopanDanish
- SchwarzkopftragopanGerman
- Schwarzkopf-TragopanGerman
- nigrakapa tragopanoEsperanto
- Tragopán dorsigrísSpanish
- Tragopán de Cabeza NegraSpanish
- Tragopán OccidentalSpanish
- tõmmu-helmesfaasan (tõmmutragopan)Estonian
- قرقاول شاخدار غربیPersian
- kashmirintragopaaniFinnish
- Tragopan de HastingsFrench
- जेवर (पक्षी)Hindi
- Kasmír-tragopánHungarian
- Tragopan occidentaleItalian
- ハイイロジュケイJapanese
- 서부주계Korean
- juodagalvis satyrasLithuanian
- melngalvas tragopānsLatvian
- ZwartkapsaterhoenDutch
- juvelfasanNorwegian
- tragopan rudolicyPolish
- ججوراناWestern Panjabi
- tragopana-ocidentalPortuguese
- tragopã-de-dorso-cinzentoPortuguese
- Черноголовый трагопанRussian
- tragopan čiernohlavýSlovak
- Mrki tragopanSerbian
- västlig tragopanSwedish
- மேற்கத்திய டிராகோபான்Tamil
- Karaca TragopanTurkish
- трагопан чорноголовийUkrainian
- JejeelUrdu
- Gà lôi Tây ÁVietnamese
- 黑头角雉Chinese
- 黑頭角雉Chinese
Relatives of the western tragopan
Other species in the same genus Tragopan.

Satyr tragopan
Tragopan satyra

Temminck's tragopan
Tragopan temminckii

Blyth's tragopan
Tragopan blythii

Cabot's tragopan
Tragopan caboti
CompareWestern tragopan vs Satyr tragopanWestern tragopan vs Temminck's tragopanWestern tragopan vs Blyth's tragopanWestern tragopan vs Cabot's tragopan
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the western tragopan?
An adult western tragopan weighs 1.33 kg – 1.98 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the western tragopan endangered?
The western tragopan is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the western tragopan?
The western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) 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.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-tragopan
“Western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-tragopan.
@misc{western_tragopan_2026,
title = {Western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-tragopan},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}