White-naped Crane Hatches at Zoo’s Conservation and Research
Center
June 2009
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A rare white-naped crane hatched at the Zoo's Conservation and Research Center (CRC) in Front Royal, Virginia, on May 23. The female chick is the most genetically important hatchling in the North American White-Naped Crane Species Survival Program. This hatching gives a much-needed boost to the captive population of the endangered species.
White-naped cranes are large birds that typically stand four feet high and weigh about 12 pounds. They are mostly dark-gray with a white hind neck. Destruction of their native wetland habitat in northeast China has dramatically decreased populations in the wild to an estimated 5,000. There are 60 in the program.
A Good Match?
The chick’s mother was sent to CRC earlier this year to breed. Neither she nor her new mate had ever produced offspring, but CRC’s bird staff have had great success breeding previously unsuccessful pairs of cranes. The Species Survival Plan—a cooperative breeding program among zoos that pairs animals in order to maintain genetically healthy populations—had determined from the birds’ genetics that they were the perfect match.
At first the birds seemed compatible, but when breeding season arrived, instead of displaying the elaborate courtship behavior that cranes exhibit before mating, they fought. Keepers suspect that the female crane imprinted on humans at an early age, causing her to exhibit inappropriate behavior and inciting aggression from the male.
Earning a Crane's Trust
Since natural mating was not possible, staff decided to perform artificial insemination. Bird keeper Chris Crowe slowly earned the female crane’s trust—playing with her, sitting with her, adapting her to his presence and touch—and was eventually able to successfully artificially inseminate her without using restraint or anesthesia.
An Egg! But Does It Contain a Boy or a Girl?
A few weeks later the female laid a fertile egg. But staff still had an additional obstacle to surmount. The breeding program currently contains more than enough male cranes and greatly needs female offspring to prevent the population from stagnating. Hence, they needed to determine the sex of a chick before it hatched. Staff developed a technique that allows them to penetrate the eggshell and extract blood without killing the embryo or introducing microorganisms that would later kill the embryo. Genetic testing from the blood sample revealed the chick inside the shell was a female. She hatched successfully and is now a healthy, growing chick being raised by the parents of her biological father.
