10 red-crowned cranes released into wild

Ten red-crowned cranes bred in captivity have been released into the wild at Zhalong National Nature Reserve in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province this year, sources with the reserve announced Thursday.

Staff at the reserve train the cranes to fly, hunt and survive in the wild.

The cranes will eventually join the wild crane population and migrate with them, said Gao Zhongyan, an official with the crane taming and breeding center in the reserve.

The reserve has also taken advantage of GPS technology to locate the released cranes. So far, the previously released cranes have been detected in the Yellow River Delta, Yancheng City in east China's Jiangsu Province, and in the Republic of Korea.

Since the reserve was established in 1979, a total of 310 red-crowned cranes bred in captivity have been released into the wild.

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

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

The Zhalong National Nature Reserve, covering 2,100 square kilometers, was set up in 1979 in China's largest reed wetland. It provides a major habitat for red-crowned cranes and other wildlife. Endi