The Lesser Prairie-Chicken is slightly smaller and paler than its near relative, the Greater Prairie-Chicken. Like its larger relative, it is known for its lekking behavior.
It is now found only in restricted areas of five states in the southern Great Plains. It inhabits open rangeland dominated by shinnery oak or sand sagebrush.
The range of lesser prairie-chicken has been reduced by over 90 percent and its population has declined by an estimated 97 percent since the 1800s. In 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received a petition to list the lesser prairie-chicken as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.
