Habitat
Nominate subspecies in steppe, shrubland, shrub-steppe, mallines. From sea-level - 1,500 m. Northern subpecies (tarapacensis) in desert salt puna, pumice flats, upland bogs and tola heath from 1,500 - 3,000 or 4,500 m.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010) and decreasing.
Status LC
Hunting and egg collecting by native American Indians, and habitat destruction by conversion to farmland and pasture are the main threats. Although the nominate supecies is relatively widespread, subspecies tarapacensis and garleppi are estimated to number only several hundred.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata) [XC90569]
by Elisa M. Huanca Plata - Universidad T\u00e9cnica de Oruro from PN Torres del Paine, XII Region, Chile (call)
Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata) [XC304506]
by id from Pantaleon Dalence, Departamento Aut\u00f3nomo de Oruro, Bolivia (song, llamada reproductiva)
Eggs (Guide)
5 - 65; greenish-yellow; 126 x 87mm. Incubation: 30 - 44 days; by male.
Subspecies
Pterocnemia pennata (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was provisionally split into Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata) and Pterocnemia tarapacensis by Stotz et al. (1996) but this treatment has not been adopted by BirdLife International.
Subspecies tarapacensis may merit consideration as full species. Subspecies garleppi may also merit consideration as full species.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
pennata d'Orbigny, 1834 - Southern Chile, west-central and southern Argentina. An introduced population is also found in north Tierra del Fuego.
tarapacensis (Chubb, C, 1913) - Northern Chile. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Puna Rhea (Rhea tarapacensis).
garleppi (Chubb, C, 1913) - Southern Peru, south-western Bolivia and north-western Argentina.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet