Over 60 red-crowned cranes hatched in NE China

More than 60 red-crowned crane babies were hatched in Zhalong National Nature Reserve, the world's largest artificial breeding center for the cranes, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province this year, sources with the reserve announced Tuesday.

Red-crowned cranes, an endangered species, are usually found in the northeast of China, Japan and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The present population of red-crowned cranes in the reserve stands at 360, according to Gao Zhongyan, an official with the crane taming and breeding center in the reserve.

There are no more than 1,000 red-crowned cranes living in the wild in China and about 2,000 worldwide.

The number of the newly-hatched crane babies every year is almost equal to that released to the wild so that the population of the cranes in the reserve remains stable at around 360, Gao said.

The artificial breeding center aims to raise a new crane population with a healthy genetic pedigree and release them to the wild.

Each baby crane's basic information will be recorded, and they will wear ring marks on their legs so they are recognized when they grow up to mate and breed to avoid inbreeding and a population decline, Gao said.

The artificially bred cranes are healthy enough to be released to the wild, according to Gao.

The Zhalong National Nature Reserve, covering 2,100 square kilometers, was set up in 1979 and was based on China's largest reed wetland. It

provides a major habitat for red-crowned cranes and other wildlife. Endi