Smithsonian conservation biology institute walnut crane

What is the story of the walnut crane?
Walnut is a white-naped crane that lives in a Virginia endangered species breeding facility.
She's 23 years-old, was raised by humans, and developed a reputation for murdering potential mates.
But Walnut eventually found a good match in bird keeper Chris Crowe, a 42 year-old human who she has bonded with..
Who is the husband of the Smithsonian crane?
Chris Crowe, an animal keeper for the Smithsonian, has an unlikely bond with Walnut, a female white-naped crane.
Despite their obvious differences, she chose him as her mate.
For Crowe, their relationship has high stakes: it impacts the future of an entire species._{Mar 28, 2018}.
Who was the crane that fell in love with a human?
Back in 1982, ICF's George Archibald bonded with a whooping crane named Tex.
Like Walnut, Tex had imprinted on humans, so Archibald decided to become her mate, artificially inseminate her and add one precious chick to the critically endangered whooping crane population._{Jul 23, 2018}.
Who was the man who mated with a crane?
Back in 1982, ICF's George Archibald bonded with a whooping crane named Tex.
Like Walnut, Tex had imprinted on humans, so Archibald decided to become her mate, artificially inseminate her and add one precious chick to the critically endangered whooping crane population._{Jul 23, 2018}.
A zookeeper in Virginia had to solve that problem when a white-naped crane under his watch fell for him instead of for her fellow birds.
Raised in human captivity, Walnut the crane has a history of not getting along with males of her species.
In fact, she killed two male cranes when her keepers tried to breed her.

Dec 15, 2021Rumor has it . . . a crane with a crush on her caretaker lives at the Smithsonian Conservation
Duration: 1:20
Posted: Dec 15, 2021

Walnut was brought to SCBI because of their successful artificial insemination program for animals unable to reproduce on their own. Walnut bonded so well with Chris that he was able to train her to accept artificial insemination without any physical restraint.

It begins in 2004 when Chris Crowe met Walnut, a white-naped crane. Walnut was a very aggressive 23-year-old female who had never produced any chicks of her own

Did a human-imprinted Crane find a mate?

When it’s time to find a suitable mate, some human-imprinted cranes seek out a partner that looks like their presumed parent — a human, instead of another bird.
This, it seems, is what happened with Walnut.
I can only imagine that when someone hand-raised her .. they perhaps even carried her around like a baby or something.

Did a white naped crane kill two potential suitors?

Photo Editing by Dudley M.
Brooks and May-Ying Lam.
A rare, white-naped crane (rumored to have killed two potential suitors) had struggled to produce chicks.
Then she fell in love with her keeper.

For The Birds

Before these grounds were a refuge for rare species, they served as a U.S.
Army remount depot.
Driving around the campus, Marinari pointed out an old stallion barn where the military readied horses and mules for war efforts during the first half of the last century.
He says that the area was later used as a detention facility for hundreds of German.

Hope For The Oryx

One of those animals may be the scimitar-horned oryxof northern Africa.
Declared extinct in the wild in 2000 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are fewer than 2,000 of these antelopes in the world, most of which live in captivity, according to Budhan Pukazhenthi, a reproductive physiologist at SCBI.
But ongoing research ma.

Is the Smithsonian conservation biology institute open to the public?

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute works every day to conserve and sustain endangered species like white-naped cranes.
And while the Institute may be closed to the public, you can always see incredible animals at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo! Can’t get enough of Walnut’s story? .

Kingfisher Rebound

SCBI's bird collection started in 1975.
Nine years later, two endangered Micronesian kingfishers were brought here after their population dropped to just a few dozen animals due to predation by the invasive brown tree snake. (Related: "Heads Up to Invasive Pests: Poison Mice Falling From the Sky.) In the two decades afterward, the worldwide kingfis.

Should a white-naped crane be bred with a ray?

As winter shaded into spring, Carol Hesch, assistant curator at the Memphis Zoo and keeper of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ white-naped crane studbook, consulted a genetic database and determined that Walnut should be bred with Ray, a comely male crane two yards over.

Smithsonian conservation biology institute walnut crane

What is the story of the walnut crane?

Who is the husband of the Smithsonian crane?

Who was the crane that fell in love with a human?

Who was the man who mated with a crane?