Giant coot coot, the giant coot is monogamous and the pair builds a huge nest in a highland lake. However, unlike the horned coot, the nest of the giant coot is primarily made of aquatic vegetation and – as it is fiercely territorial – it never forms colonies. Giant coot The giant coot ("Fulica gigantea") is a species of coot from South America. It is found at lakes in the altiplano from central Peru, through western Bolivia, to north-eastern Chile and extreme north-western Argentina. With a total length of 48–64 cm (19–25 in), it is the second largest extant member of the
American coot A member of the family Rallidae, it has three subspecies: "Fulica americana alai", "F. a. caribaea", and "F. a. ardesiaca". These subspecies, however, are sometimes considered to be their own separate species. Including these 'subspecies', there are 11 members of the genus Fulica distributed across the globe. Coot fossils from the Middle Pleistocene of California have been described as "Fulica hesterna" but cannot be separated from the present-day American coot. However, the Pleistocene coot "Fulica shufeldti" (formerly "F. minor"), famously known as part of the Fossil Lake fauna, quite possibly was a paleosubspecies of the American coot (as "Fulica americana