TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei Zoo has welcomed a batch of new tenants from the Czech Republic's Prague Zoological Garden in support of an international campaign to protect endangered species.

Introduced to Taiwan in September, three pairs of Edwards's pheasants have undergone quarantine and inspection and will meet the public on Oct. 28 at a new display zone, according to Taipei Zoo.

Native to the forests of Vietnam, the Edwards's pheasant resembles the Swinhoe’s pheasant, also known as the Taiwan blue pheasant, which is endemic to Taiwan. Males are black with a blue tint in their feathers while females are chestnut-brown.

The pheasants live in evergreen forests and low vegetation in Vietnam but their population has dwindled due to habitat loss from deforestation and the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. In 2018, it was categorized as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

Currently, there are about 388 Edwards’s pheasants housed in 113 institutions worldwide, part of the effort of the EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP), led by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. The introduction of the birds to Taiwan signals the country’s backing for “Reverse the Red” movement, centered on the survival of wild species, per Taipei Zoo.