Effects of rearing environment on behavior of captive-reared Whooping cranes (Grus Americana)
File(s)
Date
2017-03-13Author
Sadowski, Christy L.
Advisor(s)
McPhee, Misty
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Whooping crane (Grus americana) numbers dropped dramatically with an all time low in
the 1930s of 13 wild individuals due to settlement by the Europeans, overall habitat loss,
and overhunting. The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) was formed in 1999
with the main goal of establishing a migratory population of whooping cranes in eastern
North America. Unfortunately, these reintroduction efforts have had little success due to
poor reproduction in the wild after release. One proposed idea as to why their
reproductive success is low is how they are reared in captivity: reared by humans in crane
costumes versus reared by surrogate conspecific adults. From this idea, I hypothesized
that rearing environment in captivity affects expressed behavior in chicks when presented
novel environments. Ten-minute focal observations were conducted on chicks at Patuxent
Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland when they were introduced to a novel
environment. After data analysis, significant differences in expressed behaviors and
movements were observed between rearing environments. Previous studies on newly
released whooping crane chicks showed that differences between rearing environment
groups while in captivity continued to be significantly different after release. This leads
me to believe that there will be behavioral differences between the two groups when it
comes to reproduction and parenting
Subject
Captive whooping cranes
Whooping crane habitat
Whooping crane
Whooping crane behavior
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/76143Description
A Thesis Submitted In
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science - Biology
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Conservation Challenges for Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) and Greater Sandhill Cranes (Grus Canadensis tabida) in Wisconsin
McKinney, Lindsey F. (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources, 2014-12)Abundance estimates allow wildlife managers to make informed management decisions, but differential detectability of individuals can lead to biased estimates of abundance. Sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) are large-bodied ... -
Survival and Fledging Rates of Whooping and Sandhill Crane Colts at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, Wisconsin, USA
McLean, Ross P. (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources, 2019-05)Whooping cranes (WHCR, Grus americana) are federally endangered and a reintroduction effort was initiated in 2001 at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NNWR) in Wisconsin to establish the Eastern Migratory Population ... -
Investigating whooping crane habitat : an interactive approach to computer-aided environmental education
Shepherd, Heather (1993)