Crane

The crane is the coat of arms of the Hortobágy National Park.

Nowadays 15 species and 4 stem live in 5 continent.

External appearance:

The body length of the cranes is 100-130 cm, their wing span is 180-240 cm and their wieght is 4500-6000 gramm. Their plumage of the young cranes is differ from the adults’. 

Breeding:

The cranes are sexually matured as 3 year- old. The cranes choose ther partner for a life. In the breeding season the territorial behavior is characteristic. The male pays attention to the hen with sounds and dance. Around the world there are 210-250 thousands pair of crane, in Europe 100-120 thousands. 

Nesting:

The cranes who arrive to Hungary breed in North Europe. Their tipical nesting places are marshes, reeds, awash fields. Usually they have 2 eggs and they take care of their nestling until the migration. 

Feeding:

During the nesting they search for food which rich in protein. They eat very often molluscs, amphibians, bugs, reptilians, small mammals. During the migration they choose the food which contains a lot of carbohydrates like corn (in Hungary this is their main food), potatoes, pistacchio, peanut. 

Daily activity:

The cranes choose marshes or shallow lakes for overnight place where their enemies cannot catch them. During the day they visiting the nearest fields in the area to find food.

Cranes in the culture:

The crane is a characteristic bird, there are several myth and legend which connects to them. In North America there are some indian tribe who choosed the crane for their totem. It appears in the Hungarian ethnography, on different nobleman’s hatchment, cities’s hatchment.

The feather of the cranes functioned as money in the 17-20. century. The really rich noblemen wore it as the decoration of their hats.