WHOOPING CRANE CHICK: DAY 11

 
        Photo by Damien Ossi, 
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

    
Photos by Damien Ossi, 
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Photo by Jane Nicolich, 
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Patuxent and his older sister, Chesapeake, as well as a few other chicks out of camera range, are introduced to marsh life. Using puppet heads, Sara (pictured), Barb and Brenda, work with the chicks, encouraging them to probe, catch insects, and play. The bowl Sara is holding has mealworms that she can use to entice the chicks to forage in this new place. It's a whole new universe to Tux and Chessie , who are used to a dry grassy pen. When the chicks' natural aggression grows serious, Barb uses the puppet to intervene and keep the chicks from hurting each other. Playing in the pond helps them learn critical survival skills they'll need later on. In the wild parent cranes teach their chicks how to forage and use the marsh. The staff dons wading boots and gets used to damp costumes as they act as substitutes for wild cranes. Soon, the chicks will need no encouragement to spend time in the pond.

Tux is fascinated by this new watery world. He'll be brought to the pond several times a week until foraging in it and wading through deep water becomes second nature to him. 

When Tux grows up, he'll share a pen with a group of chicks his own age. That pen will have a large, deep pond in it. Tux, like the other chicks, will learn to roost in the pond at night. This will help keep them safe from predators after they're released.

Check our site tomorrow!

Cool Facts:

Conditioning For Release--Pond Experience: To keep the crane chicks in a clean, sanitary environment, their outside runs are dry sod, good for feet and legs. However, in nature, they would spend a lot of time in marshes and ponds. Crane chicks need to see these natural environments and learn what they're about, or, when they're released into the wild, they won't know what to do. So after crane chicks are exercised by walking or swimming, they're taken to a small human-made marsh. A costumed technician with a puppet can introduce the young chick to this natural environment and help him discover it much the way his parents would. 

 See this page for more cool facts each day.

Click here to ask questions about our chick or Patuxent's crane program.