Japanese crane or Tancho is a graceful endangered bird, mostly found in Hokkaido region, Japan. In many countries Japanese cranes are also known as Red-crowned cranes. Are you curious why it is called as red-crowned crane? It is seen that an adult crane forehead and crown are covered with a red skin.

People of Japan thought that this bird had disappeared in the 20th century, but it was not true at all. They are still existed in Japan, mostly on the island of Hokkaido. There are more than 2,000 red-crowned cranes are existed all over the world and half of them are found in Japan. In Japan, they symbolize longevity, good luck, and happiness.

You can’t find them in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto or Okinawa Island but only in the second largest island of Japan called Hokkaido in Kushiro city. The weather of Hokkaido is quite favorable for them because comparing to other parts of Japan the temperature there remains a bit cold even when it is summer. In winter, you will see a lot of snowfalls and frozen seas over there. So, Hokkaido is the heaven for these cranes, no doubt that they like to grow up in a cold weather.

There are only three species of cranes that have white primary feathers and red-crowed crane is one of them. For feeding they prefer deeper water and pastureland. During winter season they find foods in coastal salt marshes, freshwater marshes, rice paddies, and cultivated fields. These birds prefer marshes, reed swamps, and wet meadows when they build nest. One research shows that only for agricultural development a large amount of habitat has been lost so far. These cranes feed on a variety of aquatic invertebrates and small vertebrate. This species is not an Herbivorous. Apart from this there are other foods they like to eat such as: Earthworms, Small crabs, Insects, Plant seeds, Corns, Reeds, Rodents and so on.

Japanese cranes have a huge impact on Japanese culture. Don’t know if you ever have noticed that the logo of Japan Airlines is a Japanese Crane. Though, it appears in many form of arts such as on paintings, hand fan, even on folktale! It is said that there is an indigenous community group that traditionally performs crane dance in Hokkaido.

Red-crowned cranes are graceful birds. They are beautiful with bare red skin on head. It seems like they all have crowns. During mating season, the red skin becomes very brighter. They have normal lifestyle, not furious birds like eagles. In Japan, they are not migratory birds but in China, Korea, and Siberia they are seen as migratory species of birds. Their food habit varies from time to time as they move from one place to another place.

Even though red-crowned cranes seem to us protected in Japan. But what is the real picture of this crane outside Japan? Their living places are decreasing day after day as a result they are now endangered. On the other hand, our population is growing rapidly. One of the core threats of decreasing wetland could be increasing numbers of agricultural lands.