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biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Family: Gruidae (cranes)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Gruiformes

Species indigenous to southern Africa

Anthropoides paradiseus (Blue crane) 

Balearica regulorum (Grey Crowned crane, Crowned crane) 

The Grey crowned crane occurs from Kenya and Uganda south to southern Africa, where it breeds on marshes and pans, moving into cultivated areas in the non-breeding season. It is omnivorous, feeding on a range of seeds, leaves as well as locusts, grasshoppers, worms and small vertebrates. Its nest is a mound of aquatic vegetation, often placed in shallow water. It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated for 29-31 days, by both sexes, sharing the shifts equally. The chicks leave the nest within hours of hatching, staying in the 100 m vicinity of the nest for at least two weeks. They learn to fly when they are 56-100 days old, only becoming independent at least 120 days old.

Bugeranus carunculatus (Wattled crane)