Animalia Life

Tetrax tetrax
TAXONOMY
Otis tetrax Linnaeus, 1758, France. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Outarde canepetiиre; German: Zwergtrappe; Spanish: Sisуn Comъn.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
17 in (43 cm); male: 1.7–2.2 lb (0.8–1 kg); female: 1.5–2 lb (0.7–0.95 g). Upperparts buffy brown, lightly vermiculated with black; tail white mottled with three bars. Breeding male has blue-gray face, black neck and breast, with white V at foreneck and white band across breast, and white undersides. Female has buff face, neck, and breast, with streaking and barring on breast. Nonbreeding male is similar to female.
DISTRIBUTION
Western Mediterranean basin, Turkey, Ukraine, and southwestern Russia through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, extreme northwestern China and extreme northern Iran. Eastern populations winter to Iran, Azerbaijan, and Afghanistan.
HABITAT
Flat or rolling short-grass plains, stony semideserts, pasture, and fallow land.
BEHAVIOR
Highly gregarious in mixed-sex groups outside breeding season. Males give crepuscular jumping display in breeding season.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Invertebrates and plant material, the former predominate in summer, the latter in winter.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Two to six eggs laid February to June in bare scrape, usually in grassy cover; incubated by female 20–22 days, remaining with her until first autumn.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Near Threatened. Although over 100,000 individuals probably survive, there has been a massive decline almost throughout its range, particularly in the east where habitat modification continues, and hunting is not controlled.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Favorite food item and target of hunters in many countries.

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