(Grus
americana), tallest
American bird and one of the world's rarest, a member of the family Gruidae (order Gruiformes). The whooping crane,
officially listed as an
endangered species, is on the verge of extinction; the
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife in the U.S.
Department of the Interior is propagating
captive whooping cranes in an attempt to increase the
wild population, which numbered nearly 100 individuals in the early 1980s, with about 24 more in
captivity.
The whooping crane is almost 150 centimetres (5
feet) tall and has a wingspread of about 210 centimetres (7 feet). It is
white with
black-
tipped wings, black
legs, and a bare
red face and
crown. It has a whooping call purported to be audible for two miles.
It is believed that such birds as the whooping crane have been declining in numbers for some time because of
changing ecological conditions, and only partly from
hunting and
cultivation of land by man. Their gregariousness increases their
vulnerability, and the high rate of
infant mortality retards recovery of the population.