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Message: <blockquote data-quote="china guy" data-source="post: 1563409" data-attributes="member: 6819">Yes indeed NJ - since a great deal of avian DNA hasn't been catalogued - it could be difficult to match and ID any DNA samples from old unidentified museum specimens.Hopefully other old skin collections - that have been well recorded with regard to species and location found - are being used to extract DNA - and create this data base. Such work is potentialy quite important for agueing the need for conservation in areas such as Sichuan - since here we have many mountain locked valleys - and non-migratory species such as the Pheasants have evolved into different sub-species in different areas of the province. At the moment - in terms of protection - they're lumped under one species, with not much conrcern placed on species variation (eg. Blood Pheasants in Sichuan look very different if you go from North to South in the province) - but being able to give more scientific evidence for why a certain threatened area contains birds of a distinct genetic type - gives more ammunition to those who are fighting to save endangered habitat.</blockquote>