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Black-necked Cranes (Grus nigricollis)

JudithWolfe         Black-necked Crane

Zoo collection includes: One male

Found in the wild: Black-necked Cranes breeding range includes much of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China, with a small breeding population occurring in adjacent Ladakh in India. Wintering grounds include lower elevations of the Qinghai-Tibet and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateaus in China, with some birds occurring in Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh.

See Them at the Central Park Zoo: In the temperate zone next to the red pandas.

Description: Adults have nearly bare red crowns and lores (area between eye and bill) that are sparsely covered by black hairlike feathers. The rest of the head and the upper part of the neck are black, except for a small white or light gray spot extending backward from the rear and lower edges of each eye. The body is ashy gray, becoming almost whitish on the underparts. The tail is black, and the upper tail coverts are grayish. The primaries and secondaries are black. Eyes are yellow, legs and toes are black. Males and females are virtually indistinguishable, although males tend to be slightly larger in size.

What do they eat:  All cranes are omnivorous. Black-necked Cranes forage on plant roots and tubers, insects, snails, shrimp, fish, frogs, lizards, voles, and waste grains.

Life span: Can live to be 30 years in the wild. Only about 6,000 left in the wild.

Threats: Loss and degradation of habitat are the main threats facing the Black-necked Cranes. The problems are the most serious in the wintering areas, where wetlands are extensively affected human activity including irrigation, dam construction, draining, and grazing pressure. In Tibet, widespread changes in traditional agricultural practices have reduced the availability of waste barley and spring wheat.

Fun Facts: Black-necked Cranes, the alpine crane, were the last species of crane discovered and described by ornithologists (1876), due to the remoteness of their range. It is also known as the Tibetan Crane.  Local religious beliefs protect the black-necked cranes. They are regarded as supernatural and are featured in religious temples and art.

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