To promote the conservation of cranes in ‘The Year of Cranes”, an animation was produced for the general public to understand the life of Siberian Crane by the International Crane Foundation (ICF).

The Siberian Crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus) has been classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and its global population is only around 4,000. They breed in the Siberian tundra in Russia, and almost all the Siberian Crane spend their winter in the Yangtze River basin in China, passing through Russia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia and China on their flyway. Therefore, the Siberian Crane is also a symbolic species connecting East Asian countries. Among the important sites for Siberian Cranes, Poyang Lake in China is the largest wintering ground for this species. Therefore,  it’s acritical site to maintain their populations. At the site, the Siberian Crane mainly feed on submerged plants in shallow-water areas in the lake and mudflats. Yet the unprecedented flood this year has seriously impacted the availability of submerged plants in Poyang Lake.

This winter, Center for East Asian-Australasian Flyway Studies (CEAAF) together with WWF, International Crane Foundation (ICF), Conservation International (CI) and “One Yangtze” Project of Huatai Securities, will conduct the fifth Census of Yangtze River waterbirds in China, which hopes that everyone will make joint efforts to protect the wetlands where Siberian Crane and other waterbirds depend on.

Thanks to XUXUDUODUO and ICF for co-producing the video and thanks to BAY picture for the animation production.

Chinese version:

白鹤小飞的故事

 来到2020鹤之年的最後一个月, 国际鹤类基金会製作了一个介绍白鹤的动画来提高公众对保育鹤类的意识。

白鹤 Leucogeranus  leucogeranus，是IUCN红色名录列为极危物种，其全球种群通常4000只左右。白鹤在俄罗斯的西伯利亚苔原上繁殖，几乎全部的白鹤种群都在中国长江流域越冬，迁徙途中会经过俄罗斯，日本，韩国，朝鲜，蒙古和中国。因此，白鹤也是连接东亚各国的标志性物种。鄱阳湖是白鹤最大的越冬地，是维系这个物种的关键所在。在鄱阳湖主要在浅水湖泊和泥滩上觅食沉水植物，但是今年夏天，中国长江流域遭遇罕见的洪水灾害，严重影响鄱阳湖沉水植物的产量。

今年冬天，北京林业大学东亚-澳大利西亚候鸟迁徙研究中心将联合世界自然基金会，国际鹤类基金会，保护国际和华泰证券“一个长江项目”，开展第五次中国长江水鸟同步调查，希望大家携起手来，更多的关注白鹤和其他越冬水鸟，保护它们赖以生存的湿地。

感谢栩栩多多和国际鹤类基金会共同出品《白鹤小飞》视频，感谢大湾视频的制作。