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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about lesser floricans. Be sure to subscribe to learn more! Thank you to Trevon Gayle for today’s request. These birds may be some of the most endangered birds on our planet. While counting their numbers in the wild is next to impossible thanks to their cryptic nature, it’s thought that there are less than 2,000 individual lesser floricans living today. Their decline is largely attributed to hunting as well as habitat loss. Lesser floricans depend on large areas of open grassland in order to breed. This environment has largely been replaced with urban centers, man-made forests, and agricultural land. While some of this agricultural land is a decent habitat for lesser floricans, most of it doesn’t fit their specific criteria. Plus, the funny dances males perform in order to attract the attention of females made them an easy target for hunting until the birds we placed under protection in 1972.

Lesser floricans are mostly found in India, though some populations in the past have been seen in both Nepal and Pakistan. When monsoons bring rainy weather, these birds migrate to what they consider the best open fields. See, unlike some animals like sea turtles and Galapagos penguins who return to the same nesting spot each year, lesser floricans determine where they want to breed based on the rains. The rains help the grasses grow tall which gives the lesser florican more optimal nesting opportunities; it’s for this reason they’re considered a more nomadic species. Times of drought can heavily affect their populations, and it’s possible an extended period of drought could wipe out their species entirely. When the rains are good, however, they’re able to breed. This is initiated by a large group display of males jumping over the grasses to show off to the ladies. This is referred to as lekking and is observable in other species, as well! During this time, the males develop special plumage that makes them more appealing. The females, who are larger than the males, will give out a call to show their interest, and a male will fend off other suitors to get some alone time with his girl. The males don’t help with raising the kids, and the females will construct nests on the ground using grass to form them. A female will lay one to four green to brown colored eggs and will incubate them for about three weeks.

There isn’t much information on lesser floricans outside of their breeding season because they’re so difficult to spot. Males will go back to their non-breeding plumage which looks similar to the females, and they’ll all disperse throughout the land. Lesser floricans eat caterpillars and other arthropods, frogs, lizards, and plant material including berries. When they fly, they’re said to look almost like a duck. How long they can live seems undetermined at this point, though other birds in their family often take years to even reach maturity. This could also be a contributing factor to their endangerment, though more research would be needed to validate it.

As it stands, some of the best ways to help these birds is to conserve the grasslands on which they depend.

For more facts on lesser floricans, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.