Its height is as tall as the height of the human – 140-160 centimeters, and the reach of its wings is around two & a half meters.
White crane can live as long as the human - up to 60-70 years.
During the seasonal migration the white cranes cross the territory of Dagestan. A beautiful legend that the white cranes are the souls of the fallen warriors who died for their country took its origin right from there. Rasul Gazmatov’s famous song performed by Mark Bernes is based on this legend:
Watch the on-line broadcasting from the the Oksk hatchery arose
Photogallery grom the the Oksk hatchery arose
• «Sometimes I dream that fallen hero soldiers,
• Forever lost in brutal old campaigns,
• Were never buried under mournful alders,
• But turned to mystic snowy craying cranes»...
• For the Khanty and for the Mansi white crane is a sacred bird, patrimonial totem, indispensable character of the ceremonial rites.
• In India white crane is tenderly called a lily of the bird. Indira Gandhi issued the order to arrange the national park Keoladeo on the place of the white crane wintering in 1981. All wintering birds are strictly protected there.
• The chicks of white crane are red when hatched and become snow-white only in the third year of their life.
• The color of the roster and the hen is the same but the hen is a bit smaller and more graceful.
• The white cranes choose the spouse only one time and for the rest of the life. Only death can separate them.
• The Khanty cannot disturb the white crane even by accident: there is a taboo to visit the places where the white cranes are nesting in spring and summer time.
White crane has the longest flyway among the other cranes – more than 5500 kilometers. The birds cross the territory of 9 states two times a year.
• There is still the white crane hunting in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• According to the scientists the most effective methods of introduction are the methods of the “adoptive parents” and “isolated growth”. In the first case the white cranes’ eggs are placed to the common cranes’ nests. In the second case the chicks are grown separately from the humans in the forest reserve and then unite with the wild cranes.
