HEATH HEN - PART 3

The Heath Hen was closely related to the Lesser and the Greater Prairie Chickens.  Because both of these species are still around today and in need of protection, I'm devoting Part 3 to their conservation.  

 Although when I was younger I'd never heard of the Heath Hen, I was fascinated by the Lesser Prairie Chicken and created the cartoon character Lester the Lesser Prairie Chicken.  

 The Greater Prairie Chicken is the largest of the prairie chicken species.  It is easily distinguished from the Lesser Prairie Chicken, because the greater prairie chicken has orange air sacs on its neck and the lesser prairie chickens have a reddish air sac.  The subspecies of the Greater Prairie Chicken, the Attwater's Prairie Chicken, is extremely endangered with only about 260 remaining, 100 of those living in the wild in the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge and the rest in breeding programs at the Houston Zoo in Texas and NASA's Johnson Space Center.

 Additional Resources:

 http://www.birdorable.com/meet/greater-prairie-chicken/

 http://www.birdorable.com/meet/lesser-prairie-chicken/


http://attwater.org/

http://www.houstonzoo.org/animals/attwaters-prairie-chicken/
(There is even a link at the Houston Zoo to sponsor an Attwater's Prairie Chicken)

 http://www.boomersbaseball.com/fanzone/whatsaboomer/
(You might wonder why I put a baseball team on this site, but check out what a "Boomer" is)
Greater Prairie Chicken


Lesser Prairie Chicken
Heath Hen picture from 1900

The Greater Prairie Chicken as a mascot

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