A bustard of dry North African landscapes. It uses sandy or stony semi-desert with scattered plants and shrubs.
During courtship, the male raises its ornamental neck feathers and runs with its head tucked into them.
It eats small animals such as insects as well as plant shoots. Some North African populations are sedentary, while others move seasonally.
In the Canary Islands, it lays 1–3 eggs in a shallow ground nest. The female alone incubates for about 23 days and feeds the chicks, which leave the nest and follow her after hatching.
In the Canary Islands it may forage in groups outside the breeding season. It uses semi-desert plains, sand dunes, and stony hills with shrubs.
The Canarian subspecies has a darker, more heavily spotted back and two long rows of black neck feathers.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.