Gruidae
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Gruidae Cranes
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
- Year-round
- Breeding
- Non-breeding
Introduction
Cranes are elegant ambassadors from Earth’s open spaces, their haunting cries and exuberant courtship dances having suggested deep meaning to peoples in many cultures for many centuries. Crowned-cranes are adorned with golden tiaras and boldly patterned wings, but most species are more soberly clad, with gray or white coats accented with black and with variable patches of bare red facial skin. All distinctively fly with their necks outstretched, not folded in an S shape. Few spectacles of nature can surpass that of thousands of cranes settling into a spring migratory stopover at dusk, calling and sporadically dancing in anticipation of the breeding drama that awaits them to the north.
Habitat
Cranes inhabit a wide variety of open habitats. Most species prefer wet areas; however, some species are highly terrestrial and prefer drier habitats, even nesting in deserts if some water is available.
Diet and Foraging
Cranes have a very generalized diet, from leaves, nuts, berries, insects, and small vertebrates (mammals, snakes, lizards, birds) in upland habitats to rhizomes, tubers, aquatic invertebrates, and fish in aquatic habitats.
Breeding
Cranes are strictly monogamous, and their elaborate courtship dances reinforce existing pair bonds. Mated pairs will remain together for life; however, pairs that are unsuccessful in breeding attempts will often dissolve and the birds will find new mates. Cranes typically nest on the ground, with nests being a simple mound of vegetation topped by a shallow depression, often on islands in shallow lakes or ponds to protect against predators. A typical clutch is 2 eggs, although Balearica cranes lay 3 or 4 eggs, and the Wattled Crane Bugeranus carunculatus regularly lays only a single-egged clutch. Both parents participate in nest construction, and both incubate, brood, and help raise the chicks. Incubation takes 28 to 36 days, and in many species the precocial chicks leave the nest soon after hatching, attended by the parents.
Conservation Status
Loss and degradation of wetlands and grassland habitat, along with hunting and, for some species, trade in birds, have put many crane species (73%) at risk of extinction (7 VU, 3 EN, 1 CR). Siberian Crane Leucogeranus leucogeranus is listed as critically endangered, as development projects threaten one of its main wintering areas. Two other endangered species, Whooping Crane Grus americana and Red-crowned Crane G. japonensis, have been the focus of intensive conservation measures, and their populations have been increasing steadily since they reached population lows of fewer than 40 adults in the middle of the last century.
Systematics History
Gruidae forms part of one of two deep clades within Gruiformes, within which it is most likely sister to Aramidae. This crane/ Limpkin group is in turn sister to Psophiidae. The other deep gruiform clade comprises Rallidae and Heliornithidae (Ericson et al. 2006a, Fain et al. 2007, Hackett et al. 2008).
Conservation Status
Least Concern |
26.7%
|
---|---|
Near Threatened |
6.7%
|
Vulnerable |
46.7%
|
Endangered |
13.3%
|
Critically Endangered |
6.7%
|
Extinct in the Wild |
0%
|
Extinct |
0%
|
Not Evaluated |
0%
|
Data Deficient |
0%
|
Unknown |
0%
|
Data provided by IUCN (2024) Red List. More information