Rock Ptarmigan

• GeneralIt moults into wholly white plumage in winter, and its feathered feet let it walk on snow.
• It moults three times a year instead of twice, matching the white of the snow, the mottling of the thaw and the grey of the summer rock: it is one of the most precise seasonal camouflages in the animal kingdom.
• The Pyrenean population is a glacial relict: it was left isolated on the summits when the ice retreated and has nowhere higher to go as the climate warms.
• It buries itself in the snow to spend the night, digging a shelter where the temperature is tens of degrees warmer than outside.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Arctic tundra and stony summits above the treeline, in Eurasia and North America

Sexual maturity

11.9 months

Gestation / incubation

22 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

6 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagopus_muta

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.