Image: Zoo Schmiding/Peter Sterns
The honorary zoo photographer Peter Sterns was also lucky, who was there at the right moment and got a freshly hatched chick and a pecked egg in front of his lens.
The photos are rarely successful documents. Because the chicks usually snuggle up unnoticed under the plumage of their parents at first. In the meantime, both animals have hatched, are doing well and are already curiously venturing out of the nest. Because the cranes are “navigators”, they walk around the facility alongside their caring parents and try to imitate them when they peck at earthworms, insects and grains with their beaks.
Red-crowned cranes are revered in Japan as a symbol of good luck: the large graceful birds stand for loyalty, faithfulness, luck and long life. Not least because they have partnerships that last until the end of their lives. The well-harmonizing couple in Schmiding has already provided for offspring several times. This is an important contribution to the preservation of this species. With a current population of just over 2,000 animals, it is classified as endangered.
Source: Nachrichten
