Bringing the whooping crane back from the brink

There was a time, centuries ago, when the whooping crane was a familiar sight across parts of North America.

Standing more than five feet tall — the tallest birds on the continent — with stunning white plumage, long necks and impressive wingspans, they made their annual migration from parts of Mexico and the southern U.S. into Canada’s prairies and northern boreal plains. Their call, a loud trumpeting sound that gives them their name, was once as unmistakable as the loon’s.

But, by the 1940s, the number of whooping cranes plummeted. Hunting and habitat loss had reduced the population to a mere 21 birds, making it one of the rarest and most endangered birds in North America.

Today, while the population is nowhere near as strong as it once was, and poor reproductive success, habitat limitations, human activity including pollution and poaching threaten the cranes, their numbers have increased to more than 800 birds in the wild and under human care.

Helping the whooping crane on its journey back from brink is the Wilder Institute. As one of the world’s leading authorities on wildlife conservation, the Wilder Institute’s work supports conservation reintroduction efforts alongside a network of collaborators and also empowers communities to conserve their own natural resources. For more than three decades, it has worked with local and global partners to develop science-based solutions that help wildlife and people.

In the case of the whooping crane, the Wilder Institute is working alongside a network of researchers to better understand the causes of reproductive failure and other stresses on the population.

“Conditions in the wild are not favourable for eggs,” said Colleen Baird, Interim Associate Director of Animal Care & Welfare with the Wilder Institute. “Their habitat is being suffocated. They don’t have the right marsh conditions, and they tend to lay their nests on marshy habitat areas with an overabundance of insects, like black flies, that become very pesky and often cause the whooping cranes to abandon their nests.”

Along with research and monitoring efforts, since 1992 the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo has been leading Canada’s only conservation breeding program for whooping cranes. This vital work is sponsored by ConocoPhillips Canada.

“As a leading conservation organization, we wanted to use our expertise in conservation breeding to help this population that had been decimated,” said Baird. “They have a complex breeding ritual, so in order to increase numbers, our focus is on artificial insemination.”

Once fertilized, those whooping crane eggs are then incubated artificially or given back to the parents, either natural or foster, to be hatched and reared.

“We found the birds did not thrive as well as they did when actual parent birds were raising their own chicks,” said Baird. “Now we focus on how we can help the birds be better at breeding, laying fertile eggs, hatching and helping care for them.”

Baird and her team also focus on taking care of the young birds until they are ready to be introduced into the wild. At that point, the Conservation & Science team takes over to translocate the birds to a suitable habitat. “Our teams work closely together, so that we can successfully prepare the birds to be released based on what our Conservation Researchers  are seeing in the wild,” said Baird.

“For example, we send many birds to Louisiana to lovely, natural habitats, but the Conservation & Science team was noticing the cranes were not instinctively attempting to catch fish from the ponds. So we changed the way we delivered the fish to the cranes while they were under human care. Rather than feeding cranes solely on land, we also delivered their food in water to encourage natural behaviours, like fishing and foraging, which are needed skills to help increase their chances of survival in the wild.”

She said the efforts the Wilder Institute undertakes to help the whooping crane population grow continues to evolve as it works closely with its partners and other groups to share information, best practices and insights. All done with the goal of hatching more birds, releasing them into the wild, and ensuring their survival so future generations of Canadians can marvel at these majestic creatures and hear their signature call.

To learn more about how the Wilder Institute is working to conserve at-risk Canadian species and find ways you can help, visit wilderinstitute.org.