Saturday, February 6, 2016

Food time for a crane

The sarus crane is a beautiful bird found on the Maharajah Jungle trek. Initially, it was housed in the exhibit with blackbuck and Eld's deer, but now is found just after the Komodo dragon exhibit. It was almost declared the national bird of India (eventually the Indian peafowl got that honor).



These birds are found throughout Southern Asia, including India, China, and Vietnam but are a vulnerable species. There are somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 in the wild with more than half in India. In other parts of its range it is rarer thanks to war and habitat destruction.

1 comment:

  1. Photo is of White-naped Crane (Antigone vipio) not Sarus Crane (Antigone antigone).

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