With the alias of Siberian crane or black sleeve crane, the bird belongs to the Gruidae family of Gruiformes order. Its scientific name is Grus leucogeranus (Latin), or Siberian white crane (English).
They are large-size wading birds with a full-length of about 130 centimeters. It has pure white body feathers except for the black alulae, primary techrices and primary remiges. The bareness in the head and cheek is ponceau. The beak is brownish red, and the feet are light flesh pink.
It inhabits in morass and swamps, feeding on hydrophyte roots, culm, and also a small amount of clams larvae, fish, spiral shells, etc. It usually breeds in May or June, and build nest in morass. It spawns two eggs per nest. Male and female birds take turns to hatch the eggs, and brooding time lasts about 30 days. Young crane acquires flying ability 85 days after its birth.
Siberian White Crane usually propagates in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang Province, and hibernates in lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In China, the Poyang Lake Natural Protection Area is the largest region for white crane's hibernation in the world. In recent years, the number of hibernating white cranes in this area reaches 2896, accounting for more than 98% of the total amount of white cranes worldwide.
Siberian White Crane has been listed in Appendix I ofInternational Trade Convention on Endangered Wild Animal and Plant Species.
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