
In collaboration with colleagues at home and abroad, CAS scientists launched China's first ever satellite tracking project on black-necked cranes in late February at the National Dashanbao Black-Necked Crane Natural Reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province. Its objective is to understand the migration route of east population of the birds so as to better protect the rare bird species.
The black-necked crane (
Grus nigricollis), is ranked "vulnerable" by the IUCN Red List and under the first-grade national protection in China. It is the only alpine crane among the 15 crane species in the world. But it is the latest discovered and least studied one by avian researchers.
The world's Black-necked Crane population is estimated at 5,600 - 7,500 individuals. The species' breeding range includes much of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China. Three populations are identified: western population that breeds in alpine region in Tibet Autonomous Region and winters in Yarlung Tsangpo Valley, central population that winters in northwest part of Yunnan Province, and eastern population that winters in northeast part of Yunnan Province and northwest part of Guizhou Province.
It was presumed that the Rouergai Wetland at the northernmost tip of Sichuan Province was the breeding site for 2,000 or so individuals in the eastern population of the Black-necked Crane, according to Prof. Yang Xiaojun, a coordinator of the project from the CAS Kunming Institute of Zoology. But the recent survey shows that only about 200 individuals found there in winter. Scientists believe that the population must have other unknown breeding ground.
In a bid to understand and learn more about these magnificent birds, the Yunnan Provincial Forestry Bureau, the Kunming Institute of Zoology, and the International Crane Foundation have collaborated to study the birds and to learn how they survive the winters in the Dashanbao Mountain. At the end of last year, the scientists made a survey of the Dashanbao reserve and worked out a plan for the enforcement of the tracking operation, including installation of satellite radio transmitters on 10 adult cranes in three years.
Researchers have successfully place satellite transmitters on four Black-necked Cranes at Dashanbao in preparation for the spring migration study. With the aid of orbiting satellites, the tracking operation is expected to enable scientists to make clear the crane's unknown stopovers, wintering habitats, breeding grounds and migrating routes in its winter flight. As the birds migrate, we will collect location data from satellite transmitters placed on their backs. Using these data, we will map the birds' locations, learning about their migration routes and, ultimately, their final stopping points.