25 Rupees - Birendra Bir Bikram Himalayan Monal Pheasant

Issued as part of Nepal's Conservation series, this piece was struck to support the World Wildlife Fund's campaign to protect endangered Himalayan species — one of several such programs in the 1970s that used commemorative coinage as a funding mechanism. The Monal, Nepal's national bird, was under significant pressure from habitat loss and hunting at the time. Birendra had ascended the throne just two years prior following the death of Mahendra, and the new reign leaned heavily into international conservation diplomacy as a soft-power tool.