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Its scientific name is Tetrao urogallus, and Asturias is home to the smallest of the twelve existing sub-species. Known as cantabricus, it is, according to the “Libro Rojo de la Fauna” (Red Book of Wildlife), on the brink of extinction, due to its low numbers and a diminishing, fragmented population, over 300 kilometres away from the aquitanticus subspecies that lives in the Pyrenees. |
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Over just two decades, its population decreased by almost 60%, dwindling from 582 in 1982 to less than 300 in 1998. Also, its territory (previously spanning 5.000 square kilometres) has been reduced to less than 2000. This decline has been constant, and the fragmentation of its population sadly seems to hint at the possibility of the grouse joining the long list of our planet’s extinct species.
