The Wattled Crane Recovery Program:

The concern over the decline of the species in South Africa, and its potential genetic uniqueness, led to the initiation of a Population and Habitat Viability Assessment Workshop (McCann et al. 2000). This was facilitated by International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Conservation Breeding Specialist Group in July 2000, where it was determined that the captive breeding and release programme could play a significant role ensuring the long-term survival of the species and thus the Wattled Crane Recovery Programme (WCRP) was initiated. WCRP aims to maintain a captive breeding flock to serve as a genetic reservoir in the case of catastrophic extinction of wattled cranes in the wild as well as supplementation of the wild population through the release of captive-reared fledglings into existing wild populations.

Wattled cranes typically lay one or two eggs per clutch. However, even when two eggs are laid, only one chick is reared and the second egg is abandoned. This phenomenon allows for the collection of abandoned eggs, as this has no known detrimental effect on the productivity of the wild population. Aerial surveys are conducted in KwaZulu-Natal to locate Wattle crane nests and a fieldworker from the South African Crane Working Group monitors the nests throughout the breeding season. Abandoned eggs are collected and transported to a local breeding facility for hatching. At two days of age, the hatchlings are flown to Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo where they are costume-reared. Once fledged, the cohort is relocated with one of the ten participating institutions. Adults are paired at approximately two years of age. Once a target population of 40 captive adults has been reached, offspring of the captive population will be used to supplement the wild population via release into existing floater flocks.

Feasibility trials were conducted between 1995 and 2000, during which a total of 13 wattled cranes were released into the wild wattled crane floater flocks. Costume-rearing and gentle release into floater flocks, has proven successful with the Mississippi Sandhill crane (Grus canadensis pulla) in North America (Urbanek, 1994). Currently five of the released birds are still living.

Post-release mortalities have included power line collisions, poisoning and natural predation by caracal. Much experience was gained from these trials, including the refinement of the release technique as well as identification of suitable release sites.

On September 1st, 2006, the first captive bred wattled crane produced in South Africa in nearly ten years was hatched at the Johannesburg Zoo. The zoo credits improved diet and husbandry practices for this successful breeding. Since 1986 more than 60 wattled crane chicks have been successfully fledged from abandoned eggs. Much remains unknown about the captive reproduction of wattled cranes as world-wide efforts to breed this species in captivity have only proved marginally successful. Poor fertility remains a major obstacle to captive reproduction. Attempts are being made to modify standard artificial insemination techniques for the wattled Crane.

JCPZ manages almost 80% of the captive wattled crane stock that is in captivity and they play a huge role in the program. The JCPZ Conservation and Research Farm plays a very important role in the pairing of the Wattle cranes. Up to date the farm succeeded in pairing 12 birds (6 pairs) of which 5 pairs are housed at the farm and 1 pair at the Fourways Gardens Nature Reserve.

Pairing:

Wattled cranes’ pairing is a very delicate and difficult task to take, they can only mate successfully or produce a fertile egg when the paired birds are compatible to each other. The Conservation and Research farm currently houses 26 birds (inclusive of the unsexed chick born on 25 July 2022); a male and a female originally from Hlanthinkulu have been moved to Fourways Gardens Nature Reserve to start a breeding program. There are currently 7 male birds and 8 females being tried for pairing. There is also engagements with other institutions to swop birds for genetic enhancement. 2 birds aged 1 year old have been earmarked for release back into the wild and the enclosures have been redesigned to mimic their natural habitat. The process is ongoing and there are plans to engage institutions that have successfully reared and released the wattled cranes back to the wild.
 

Current paired birds at the JCPZ Conservation and Research Farm:
 

Paired Birds				Year Paired
Male	Year of birth	Female	Year of birth
Ngulube	2008	Boston	1994	2014
Nompi	2006	Andrea	2009	2015
Archie	1992	Thoko	2010	2017
Josh	2004	Amazona	1991	2018
Andani	2017	Mathata	2010	2019

 

Planned pairing:

Pairing requires a full day commitment and a minimum of 2 people are required to take turns during monitoring or pairing of cranes. Rebecca and York have now been placed opposite each other and they are both expressing glimpse of positive behaviour (Synchronised wing spreading, stick tossing) deemed necessary for successful pairing. Rebecca continues to lay eggs annually and can also make a perfect candidate when artificial insemination is considered. There is an on-going fact finding mission to determine the possibility of introducing the 3 young birds born in 2020 together with a plan to later release them back in the wild. A sub adult wattled crane born in 2018 is currently being monitored and data is being collected and analysed with a purpose of releasing it back in the wild.