Rock ptarmigan

It lays one clutch of 7 eggs per year, the eggs are incubated for 21.5 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 363.5 days. The IUCN lists the rock ptarmigan as Least Concern, not a threatened category, and its geographic range covers 15,000,000 km².

Weight

510.5 g – 665 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Wingspan

57 cmsrc for Wingspan

Lifespan

6.08 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

grasslandsrc for Habitat

Egg incubation

21.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation

Young per litter or clutch

7src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

11.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

1src for Litters or clutches a year

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Migration

Sedentarysrc for Migration

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The rock ptarmigan is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classAves
4. orderGalliformes
5. familyPhasianidae
6. genusLagopus
7. SpeciesLagopus muta (Montin, 1781)

Synonyms Lagopus alpinus, Lagopus mutus, Lagopus mutus, Lagopus mutus, Lagopus mutus, Lagopus vulgaris

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Willow ptarmigan

Lagopus lagopus

Phasianidae

LC, Least Concern

White-tailed ptarmigan

Lagopus leucura

Phasianidae

L

Lagopus medius

PhasianidaeNo free photo yet

CompareRock ptarmigan vs Willow ptarmiganRock ptarmigan vs White-tailed ptarmiganRock ptarmigan vs Lagopus medius

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
  Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{rock_ptarmigan_2026,
  title = {Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-ptarmigan},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}