Immature males resemble females, but are larger with longer legs and a variable amount of black on the head and red on neck.

Their preferred habitat is the dense understorey of temperate, subalpine and broad-leaved forest.

During display, the males show the throat inflated into lappets that appear purple with pink margins.

During the display they call and the song is a loud two-note ringing wou-weee which is repeated every second for long periods.

The population of the western tragopan is threatened by several anthropogenic factors throughout its range.

[5] CITES has listed this species in Appendix I in order to discourage selling of its feathers.