Lora Downing, age 13, of Willingboro, N.J., for her question:
HOW LARGE DOES A CRANE GROW?
Cranes are considered to be among the world's most spectacular feathered animals. There are 14 species ranging in size from the three foot demosel crane of Europe to the giant five foot whooping crane of North America.
Cranes primarily inhabit open marshlands, wet plains and prairies. They can also occasionally be found on seashores. As a group, they are all long legged, long necked birds with heads that are partly bare of feathers.
A distinctive feature of the crane is its trachea or windpipe, which is shaped differently in each species but is always strongly convoluted like the coils of a trumpet. The whooping crane's windpipe is about four feet long with about two feet of the length coiled in a cavity within the bird's breastbone.
The crane's windpipe allows the bird a chance to give out with a cry that can be heard two miles away. Most cranes have a loud, clarionlike trumpet note that they utter not only in flight to keep the flock together, but also on the ground. On the ground, the crane's voice includes many notes, some of which are musical and pleasant to hear.
Cranes also clack their bills audibly the way storks do.
Whooping cranes once ranged widely in the United States. But by the mid 170s, only about 100 wild cranes were alive.
The birds nest in northern Canada and spend the winter months in Texas. Now carefully watched by scientists in both countries, the whooping crane population is slowly increasing. Also, there are a good number of them living and breeding in American and Canadian ZOOS.
There are three kinds of wild sand hill cranes living in North America. The little brown crane breeds in the region of the Arctic Circle and spends the winter in the southwestern United States and Mexico. The greater sand hill crane breeds in Canada and the states of the northern U.S. west of the Great Lakes. It spends winters in Mexico. The third kind, the Florida sand hill, can be found living in Georgia and Florida.
The whooping crane has a wingspread from six to eight feet. This crane is named for its especially loud, deep call.
Cranes eat small plants, insects, frogs, worms, reptiles and the eggs of water animals. Vegetable matter makes up most of their diet.
Groups of cranes gather during the mating season to dance. The birds dance crazily and hop into the air with great excitement. These antics are interspersed with deep bowings. At other times, the crane will stand on one leg and doze lazily, with its head drawn back on its shoulder.
The birds nest in marshes and other wetland areas. The female lays only two eggs each season. The spotted eggs are dull white to brown in color.
Cranes in flight can be distinguished from herons. Cranes fly with necks stuck out straight, and herons fly with necks curved.
When migrating, cranes travel high in the air in a strong "V" or a long, extended echelon. When traveling any distance, they often fly as high as two miles up.