Programme Coordinator – Tatiana Kashentseva, Oka State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Ryasan oblast, Russia
All cranes of the Palearctic belong to nesting migratory species with small population sizes, which is attributed to both biological features and habitat loss due to a variety of anthropogenic factors including poaching. Cranes depend on the wetlands that are used by the birds throughout the year and at various stages of the annual cycle. This factor plays a critical role in the decline in the numbers of most crane species, since wetlands are universally transformed into the lands used for economic development.
The goal of the programme is to preserve the gene pool of the cranes, especially rare and endangered species, through establishing genetically valuable breeding populations in zoos and breeding centres of Eurasia for the restoration of decreasing wild populations. Siberian cranes (Grus leucogeranus), Japanese cranes (Grus japonensis), white-naped cranes (Antigone vipio), black-necked cranes (Grus nigricollis), and Demoiselle cranes (Grus virgo) successfully breed at a number of EARAZA institutions.
- consolidation and dissemination of experience and knowledge in breeding cranes under artificial conditions;
- certification of crane husbandry conditions at EARAZA zoos and breeding centres;
- development and optimization of the seasonal husbandry regimes for the cranes under artificial conditions in various climatic zones;
- breeding of rare and endangered species of cranes under artificial conditions on the basis of the data of the Studbooks in the frames of EARAZA programme;
- preparation of the offspring of captive bred cranes for reintroduction into the wild;
- ecological education;
- scientific research facilitating the listed activities.
