Critically Endangered
Siberian Crane
Leucogeranus leucogeranus
The world population was estimated in 2010 at about 3,200 birds, mostly belonging to the eastern population with about 93% of them wintering in the Poyang Lake basin in China, a habitat that may be altered by the Three Gorges Dam.
Appearance
Adults of both sexes have a pure white plumage except for the black primaries, alula and primary coverts. The fore-crown, face and side of head is bare and brick red, the bill is dark and the legs are pinkish. Juveniles are feathered on the face and the plumage is dingy brown.
This is a fairly large species of crane, typically weighing 4.9–8.6 kg (11–19 lb) and standing about 140 cm (4 ft 7 in) tall.
Published measurements include mass about 197.
Range and habitat
The breeding area of the Siberian crane formerly extended between the Urals and Ob River south to the Ishim and Tobol rivers and east to the Kolyma region. The populations declined with changes in landuse, the draining of wetlands for agricultural expansion and hunting on their migration routes. The western area in the river basins of the Ob, Konda and Sossva and to the east a much larger population in Yakutia between the Yana and the Alazeya rivers.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Siberian cranes are widely dispersed in their breeding areas and are highly territorial. In the summer grounds they feed on a range of plants among them the roots of hellebore (Veratrum misae), seeds of Empetrum nigrum as well as small rodents like lemmings and voles, earthworms, and fish.
The nest is usually on the edge of lake in boggy ground and is usually surrounded by water. The usual clutch is two eggs, that are incubated by the female after the second egg is laid, with the male standing guard nearby.
In crisis
Their populations, particularly those in the western range, have declined drastically in the 20th century due to hunting along their migration routes and habitat degradation. The world population was estimated in 2010 at about 3,200 birds, mostly belonging to the eastern population with about 93% of them wintering in the Poyang Lake basin in China, a habitat that may be altered by the Three Gorges Dam. The population in 2024 was estimated to have expanded to about 5,500 individuals.
In 2008, the decreasing world population was estimated to be around 3500–4000 individuals, nearly all of them belonging to the eastern breeding population. Of the 15 crane species, this is the only regarded as critically endangered, the highest threatened category by the IUCN. (The whooping crane of North America has a smaller but rising population that is better protected, giving the species a status of endangered.) The western population of the Siberian crane had dwindled to four in 2002 and subsequently it was thought to be extirpated, but a single individual, named "Omid", has wintered in Iran since 2006–2007.
Siberian Crane is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Siberian Crane, Wikidata item Q21949185. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
