Red-crowned crane
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| Grus japonensis | |
The Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), also called the Japanese crane, Chinese-fairy crane or Manchurian crane, is a large crane. It is the second rarest crane in the world after the North American whooping crane.[1] In East Asia, it is known as a symbol of luck and fidelity.[1] At 55 inches high, the crane does not make easy prey, for all that it stands out in its natural habitat of marshes and swamps. When it matures, the red-crowned crane is snow white with a patch of red skin on its head.
Description
In the spring and summer, the red-crowned crane lives in Siberia, where their eggs hatch. Normally the crane lays two eggs, but usually only one chick survives.[1] Later, in the autumn, it migrates in flocks to Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and other countries in East Asia to spend the winter. All red-crowned cranes migrate, except for a flock that stays in Hokkaido, year long.[1]
Diet
The crane eats small amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, insects, and plants that grow in marshes and swamps.
Chinese culture
In China, the red-crowned crane is often featured in myths and legends. In Taoism, the red-crowned crane is a symbol of longevity and immortality. In art and literature, immortals are often depicted riding on cranes. A mortal who attains immortality is similarly carried off by a crane. Reflecting this association, red-crowned cranes are called xian he (traditional Chinese: 仙鶴; simplified Chinese: 仙鹤; pinyin: xiānhè; "fairy crane" or "crane of the immortals""). The red-crowned crane is also a symbol of nobility. Depictions of the crane have been found in Shang dynasty tombs and Zhou dynasty ceremonial bronzeware. A common theme in later Chinese art is the reclusive scholar who cultivates bamboo and keeps cranes. Some literati even reared cranes and trained them to dance to guqin music.
The Ming and Qing dynasties endowed the red crowned crane with the cultural connotation of loyalty, uprightness and noble morality. red crowned crane is embroidered on the clothes of a civil servant. It is listed as an important symbol next only to the Loong and Fenghuang used by the royal family. Therefore, people also regard the crane as a symbol of a high official.
The image of red crowned crane generally appears in Chinese cultural relics and works of art.
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Silver silk covered jar with pine crane pattern -
Cloud crane lotus pattern fumigation oven -
Bronze mirror with pine and crane pattern -
Bronze sculptures of tortoise and crane in Wanshou Palace of Nanchang -
The treasure box of the picture of picking red and releasing crane in Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty -
Plums and crane, by Xu Gu. -
Rank badge with crane, early Qing dynasty, late 17th–early 18th century.
Because of its importance in Chinese culture, the red-crowned crane was selected by the National Forestry Bureau of the People's Republic of China as a candidate for the title of national animal of China. This decision was deferred due to the red-crowned crane's Linnaean taxonomic name "Grus japonensis".[2]
Robert Kuok's Kerry/Kuok Group also uses the red-crowned crane as its logo for operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, mainland China, and overseas.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Red-crowned crane fact sheet". nationalzoo.si.edu. 2013. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Controversy over the red-crowned crane's candidacy for national bird status (丹顶鹤作为候选国鸟上报国务院 因争议未获批)
