Saving Cranes

Saving Cranes

Miniaci Performing Arts Center

I am the stuff magic is made of. I am as old as the hills. My home spans from the Arctic Tundra to the South African Veld and I, I am over sixty million years old. My whistles bring courage to the Crow and Cheyenne warriors of North America and my dance is the dance of the tribes of Australia and Siberia. I am the illustrious Crane whose size and looks have inspired humans for thousands of years. (Crane Music, Paul A. Johnsgard)

The Whooping Crane is the rarest of the world’s 15 Crane species. As of August 1996 the adult Whooping Crane population numbered 205 birds in the wild and 91 in captivity. (The Cranes, Compiled by Curt D. Meine and George W. Archibald p. 172)

A brief history of the Whooping Crane:

1722 – English Naturalist Mark Catesby obtains the skin of a Whooping Crane from a South Carolina Native American

1940 – Only 1 self sustaining flock of Whooping Cranes left

“If any single bird species symbolizes the North American conservation movement of this century, and the closeness many wild life species came to extinction, it is the Whooping Crane.” (Johnsgard, 65) The Crane has made very interesting mythological contributions to society.

Crane Mythology and the Greek language

The language contributions of the Roman word for Crane – Grues

Christian Mythology and the Crane

The Whooping Crane occurs exclusively in N. America with a population of over 52 non- migratory birds in Florida.