The "flying dragon" in the sky is not a simple chicken

What is a "flying dragon"?

Author: Ma Ming

The Year of the Dragon is coming, and the editorial department asked me to write an animal story about dragons. I searched the Internet but couldn't find any information about the "flying dragon" mentioned in the title. All I could find were mythical dragons flying and phoenixes dancing, which were of no reference value.

In fact, Feilong is a kind of Galliformes bird in the forest of Altai Mountain in Xinjiang. Its scientific name is Tetrastes bonasia. It is good at walking and belongs to land birds. It is found in Habahe, Burqin, Altay, Fuhai and other counties in Xinjiang.

As we all know, dragon is a kind of god in ancient mythology. In fact, there is no such creature as dragon on earth. People often say "dragon meat in the sky, donkey meat on the earth", which is not blasphemous. "Dragon meat" refers to the meat of flying dragon - hazel grouse, which is one of the eight delicacies.

Dragon meat is only found in heaven. In the past, only the emperor could eat it. It is usually used to describe something very rare. In folk culture, the name "flying dragon" sounds scary, but it is actually a folk name for hazel grouse. Because the front chest and neck of the flying dragon (hazel grouse) have a keel-like structure, and its claws look like dragon claws, it has this nickname.

Most of the flying grouse live in places with higher latitudes, such as the northernmost region of Xinjiang. In foreign countries, the hazel grouse is distributed from Siberia to the Arctic tundra. The environment in which they live is very special. In relatively cold places, they feed on flowers and fruits of plants and grow very slowly. In addition, most of the places where they live are cold temperate coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests, so there is no shortage of nutritious food, so the meat is delicious.

The Hazel Grouse is not big, with a body length of only 34-39 cm, and is the smallest of the grouse (see illustration). During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, it was listed as a treasure to be presented to the royal family, and was known as the "Bird of the Year". The feathers of the Hazel Grouse can also be made into handicrafts, which have high economic value. However, due to the long-term destruction of its growth environment, it is now in an endangered state and is very rare in the wild. It is a national second-level protected animal.

Male Hazel Grouse (Tetrastes bonasia) (Photo by Zhang Guoqiang)