Animalia Life

Tetrao urogallus
SUBFAMILY
Tetraoninae
TAXONOMY
Tetrao urogallus Linnaeus, 1758, Sweden. Twelve subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Grand tйtras; German: Auerhuhn; Spanish: Urogallo Comъn.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Male 32–35 in (83–90 cm); female 23–25 in (59–64 cm); male 7.3–14.3 lb (3.3–6.5 kg); female 3.3–5.5 lb (1.5–2.5 kg). Males are mostly slate gray with a blackish head and neck, red eye combs, glossy greenish black breast, dark brown wings with white carpal patch, varying amounts of white on upper wings and underparts, and long, rounded tail. Females are mottled and barred in gray, buff, and black with a large rusty breast patch.
DISTRIBUTION
Northern Britain and Scandinavia to eastern Russia; more fragmented in eastern and southeastern Europe, the Alps; isolated populations in northern Spain and Pyrenees.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
13–14 in (33–36 cm); 0.6–0.7 lb (270–310 g). Brownish gray with black bars on upperparts, black chin bordered in white, a chestnut upper breast, and underparts spotted and barred in dark gray and ochre. Small erectile crest on head. Barred pattern on the tail distinguishes this species from B. bonasia.
DISTRIBUTION
China: central Gansu to southern Quinghai, eastern Tibet, northwestern Yunnan, and northern and western Sichuan.
HABITAT
Montane forests at 3,300–13,100 ft (1,000–4,000 m); conifer near treeline, birch and conifer below, willow thickets on riverbanks.
BEHAVIOR
Forms flocks of up to 15 for fall-winter; spring dispersal for breeding; males repeat noisy display for most of day, and fight in treetops.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Forages on ground and in trees for buds and shoots of willow and birch, also taking various flowers, seeds, and berries.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous. Nests on ledges and stumps in May–June; clutch size five to eight; incubation 25 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Near Threatened as forest clearance and fragmentation causes local extinctions, with hunting and egg-collecting a problem outside protected areas.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
A hunted resource locally.

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