Crane (bird)

Cranes
Indian Sarus Crane Gruzs antigone antigone
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Gruiformes Family: Gruidae Vigors, 1825
Genera
Grus Anthropoides Balearica Bugeranus

Cranes are any of the large, long-legged, long-necked, wading birds comprising the family Guidae of the order Gruiformes. Cranes are distinguished readily in flight because they fly with necks outstretched (and stiltlike legs trailing behind), unlike the somewhat similar appearing, but unrelated herons, which fly with their necks retracted.

Representatives of the Guidae family, comprising 15 extant species of cranes, occur in the wild on all the continents except Antarctica and South America.

Historically, the cranes have claimed a special place in the human imagination because of their several distinctive similarities to humans, including their height, vocalization, social nature, and perennial monogamy. China, South Africa, and Uganda each claim a different species of crane as their national bird. In east Asia, cranes are revered as symbols of marital fidelity, love, happiness, and long life. One scientific evaluation of monogamy in cranes confirmed that even in a dense breeding population monogamy was maintained by more than 80 percent of the pairs evaluated (Hayes 2005).

Cranes are also similar to humans in being omnivorous, consuming plants, vertebrates (such as fish, rodents, frogs, and snakes), and invertebrates (such as mollusks, insects, and crustaceans). Predators of cranes include, depending on the location, such carnivores as wild dogs, wolves, bears, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, ravens, hawks, and eagles. For human beings, the cranes' beauty, their majestic flying, and their spectacular mating dances (which may include unison calling, head thrown back, and beak upward) not only adds to the wonder of creation, but also have made cranes highly symbolic birds in many cultures.

Most species of cranes are at least threatened, if not critically endangered, within their range. The plight of the whooping cranes of North America inspired some of the first US legislation to protect endangered species.

Description

Cranes have a long bill, long neck, and long legs. They are wading birds like the herons that they resemble, but the herons are placed in the Ardeidae family of the Ciconiiformes order. Traditionally, Ciconiiformes has included a variety of large, long-legged wading birds with large bills: storks, herons, egrets, ibises, spoonbills, and several others. The cranes belong to the Guidae family of the order Gruiformes, an order that includes rails, limpkins, finfoots, and trumpeters. Although the cranes seem similar to the herons, anatomical evidence, as well as recent molecular evidence, supports the closer relationship to the rails and so forth of Gruiformes.

File:Red-crowned Crane head.jpg

Closeup of the red-crowned crane's head

Cranes tend to be larger than herons and with a heaver bill and elevated hind toe. In addition, as noted above, herons tend to fly with their necks retracted, not outstretched like the crane.

The Sarus Crane, Grus antigone, found in northern Pakistan, India, Nepal, Southeast Asia, and Queensland, Australia, is the largest crane, averaging 156 centimeters. However, Indian males can can attain a maximum height of approximately 200 centimeters (6.6 feet), with a wingspan of 250 centimeters (8.5 feet), making them the world's tallest living flying bird. The Wattled Crane, Bugeranus carunculatus, which is found in Africa south of the Sahara Desert, is the largest crane in Africa and the second tallest species of crane, reaching a height of up to 172 centimeters (six feet). The whooping crane (Grus americana), whose name comes from its whooping call, is the tallest North American crane and the only crane species found solely in North America. This species stands nearly 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall with a wingspan of 2.3 meters (7.5 feet).

Cranes are found in wetlands and grass plains. They are opportunistic feeders that change their diet according to the season and their own nutrient requirements. They eat a range of items from suitably sized small rodents, fish, amphibians, and insects, to grain, berries, and plants. (The cranberry is so-named for its flowers' resemblance to the neck and head of the crane.)

Most cranes have elaborate, rhythmic, and noisy courting displays or "dances" that both males and females engage in during the mating season. They are renowned for their loud trumpeting call that carries for many kilometers.

While folklore often states that cranes mate for life, recent scientific research indicates that these birds do change mates over the course of their (considerable) lifetimes (Hayes 2005). Some species and/or populations of cranes migrate over long distances, while some do not migrate at all. For example, the endangered red-crowned crane, Grus japonensis, also called the Japanese crane, spends the spring and summer in Siberia, where their eggs hatch, but in the fall it migrates in flocks to Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and other countries in East Asia to spend the winter. All red-crowned cranes migrate, except for a flock that stays in Hokkaidō, Japan, year long. Cranes are gregarious, forming large flocks where their numbers are sufficient.

Conservation status

The Siberian crane, Grus leucogeranus, also known as the Siberian white crane or the snow crane, is the most critically endangered species of crane. It has a total population placed at less than 3,000 and is declining. It is a strongly migratory species. The central population that once nested in western Siberia and wintered in India was last seen in 2002 (ICF 2007) and may have extirpated. The eastern population breeds in northeastern Siberia and winter along the Yangtze River in China but is threatened by recent construction. The small western population winters at one site in Iran and breeds east of the Ural Mountains in Russia (ICF 2007).

The red-crowned crane, with about 2,000 birds, is the second rarest crane in the world, after the whooping crane. The whooping crane (Grus americana) is considered endangered, like the red-crowned crane, but its numbers are increasing. Currently, the only known remaining nesting location is Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and the surrounding area. The whooping crane winters in Texas. At one time, the range for these birds extended throughout midwestern North America. In 1941, the wild population consisted of 21 birds. Since then, the population has increased somewhat, largely due to conservation efforts. Recent estimates suggest that there are about 373 whooping cranes living in the wild, and another 145 living in captivity. The whooping crane is still one of the rarest birds in North America.

Of the 15 species of cranes, only the sandhill crane (Grus canadensis), Brolga crane (Grus rubicunda), Demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo), Eurasia crane or common crane (Grus grus), and gray crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) are not listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.

Among threats to cranes are habitat destruction, hunting, and illegal capture for the pet trade.

Species

Gray Crowned Crane, Balearica regulorum

There are 15 living species of cranes in 4 genera:

SUBFAMILY BALEARICINAE - crowned cranes

• Genus Balearica
  • Black Crowned Crane, Balearica pavonina
  • Gray Crowned Crane, Balearica regulorum

SUBFAMILY GRUINAE - typical cranes

• Genus Grus
  • Common Crane, Grus grus, also known as the Eurasian Crane
  • Sandhill Crane, Grus canadensis
  • Whooping Crane, Grus americana
  • Sarus Crane, Grus antigone
  • Brolga, Grus rubicunda
  • Siberian Crane, Grus leucogeranus
  • White-naped Crane, Grus vipio
  • Hooded Crane, Grus monacha
  • Black-necked Crane, Grus nigricollis
  • Red-crowned Crane, Grus japonensis
• Genus Anthropoides
  • Blue Crane, Anthropoides paradisea
  • Demoiselle Crane, Anthropoides virgo
• Genus Bugeranus
  • Wattled Crane, Bugeranus carunculatus

Cranes in culture

File:PC280527.JPG

Sandhill Crane

The cranes' beauty and their spectacular mating dances have made them highly symbolic birds in many cultures, with records dating back to ancient times. Crane symbolism and mythology is widely spread and can be found in areas such as the Aegean, South Arabia, China, Japan, Korea, and in the Native American cultures of North America.

In Korea, a crane dance has been performed in the courtyard of the Tongdosa Temple since the Silla Dynasty (646 C.E.). In northern Hokkaidō, the women of the Ainu people, whose culture is more Siberian than Japanese, performed a crane dance that was captured in 1908 in a photograph by Arnold Genthe. In Mecca, in pre-Islamic South Arabia, the goddesses Allat, Uzza, and Manah, who were believed to be daughters of and intercessors with Allah, were called the "three exalted cranes" (gharaniq, an obscure word on which 'crane' is the usual gloss or dictionary entry of that word).

A crane is considered auspicious in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. It is one of the symbols of longevity and is often represented with other symbols of long life, such as pine, bamboo, and the tortoise. It also is seen as symbol of fidelity. Vietnamese people consider crane and dragon to be symbols of their culture. In feudal Japan, the crane was protected by the ruling classes and fed by the peasants. When the feudal system was abolished in the Meiji era of the 19th century, the protection of cranes was lost. With effort they have been brought back from the brink of extinction. Japan has named one of their satellites tsuru (crane, the bird). According to tradition, if one folds 1000 origami cranes, one's wish for health will be granted. Since the death of Sadako Sasaki, this applies to a wish for peace as well.

Also, traditional Chinese "heavenly cranes" (tian-he) or "blessed cranes" (xian-he) were messengers of wisdom. Legendary Taoist sages were transported between heavenly worlds on the backs of cranes.

A pair of red-crowned Cranes in the Tokyo Zoo.

The red-crowned crane is a common symbol of luck and fidelity. In Japan, the crane, known as tancho, is said to live 1000 years. Coincidentally, a pair of red-crowned cranes were used as a design in the D series of 1000 yen note. In Ainu language, this crane is known as sarurun kamui or marsh kamui.

In China, the red-crowned crane is often featured in myths and legends. In Taoism, the red-crowned crane is a symbol of longevity and immortality. In art and literature, immortals are often depicted riding on cranes. A mortal who attains immortality is similarly carried off by a crane. Reflecting this association, red-crowned Cranes are called xian he, or fairy crane.

The red-crowned crane is also a symbol of nobility. Depictions of the crane has been found in Shang Dynasty tombs and Zhou Dynasty ceremonial bronzeware. A common theme in later Chinese art is the reclused scholar who cultivates bamboo and keeps cranes.

Likewise, in other cultures the crane is important. The Greek for crane is Γερανος (Geranos), which gives us the Cranesbill, or hardy geranium. The crane was a bird of omen. In the tale of Ibycus and the cranes, a thief attacked Ibycus (a poet of the 6th century B.C.E.) and left him for dead. Ibycus called to a flock of passing cranes, who followed the murderer to a theater and hovered over him until, stricken with guilt, he confessed to the crime.

Pliny the Elder wrote that cranes would appoint one of their number to stand guard while they slept. The sentry would hold a stone in its claw, so that if it fell asleep it would drop the stone and waken.

Aristotle describes the migration of cranes in The History of Animals, adding an account of their fights with pygmies as they wintered near the source of the Nile. He describes as untruthful an account that the crane carries a touchstone inside it that can be used to test for gold when vomited up. (This second story is not altogether implausible, as cranes might ingest appropriate gizzard stones in one locality and regurgitate them in a region where such stone is otherwise scarce.)

Also, the word "pedigree" comes from the Old French phrase, "pie de grue", which means "foot of a crane", as the pedigree diagram looks similar to the branches coming out of a crane's foot.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Britton, Dorothy and Hayashida, Tsuneo. 1981. The Japanese crane : bird of happiness. Tokyo & New York. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN: 0870114840.

• Hayes, M. A. 2005. Divorce and extra-pair paternity as alternative mating strategies in monogamous sandhill cranes. MS thesis, University of South Dakota, Vermilion, S.D. PDF fulltext at the International Crane Foundation's Library. Retrieved July 28, 2007.

• International Crane Foundation (ICF). 2007. Siberian crane. International Crane Foundation. Retrieved July 28, 2007.

• Miller, A. H., and C. G. Sibley. 1942. A new species of crane from the Pliocene of California. Condor 44: 126-127.

External links

• Saving Cranes website (ICF). Retrieved July 29, 2007.

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