The American crane is the oldest bird in North America,
is also an endangered species in Canada,
At one point, the number was reduced to only 15.
A female American crane, but with
A Canadian ornithologist fell in love,
What kind of story is this?
Image source: Chevron
George Archibald is this one
The protagonist of "Love of Man and Bird",
He is also a legend in the industry.
He not only succeeded in "pursuing" it
A female American crane,
And miraculously helped her fertilize and lay eggs,
and hatched young cranes,
Become a good story to save the American crane species.
图源：International Crane Foundation
Archibald was born in Nova Scotia,
Received his Ph.D. from Cornell University.
In 1973, many cranes were targeted at the time
Endangered situations,
Archibald and his colleagues at Cornell University
Jointly established the International Crane Foundation,
As the world's center for the study and conservation of cranes.
Since 1965, american cranes have been bred artificially
The project is already in Maryland, USA
Conducted by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
In the beginning, the research center would
Eggs brought back from Canada to the American crane for hatching,
He has also hatched several baby cranes.
That same year, a pair in the United States
American cranes in captivity at the San Antonio Zoo
A female crane, Tex, was born.
Tex's mother has laid more than 50 eggs.
Some young birds have also hatched.
But due to the lack of artificial breeding knowledge in the zoo,
Most of the young birds died.
Tex is one of the few young birds that have survived,
She is the only female crane in the entire zoo.
This is in a precarious situation in which the number of American cranes is at stake,
People see the hope of the continuation of the population.
Image source: YouTube@International Crane Foundation
The zoo chief hurried to put the baby like that
Tex took it home to himself,
Keep her in a box in the living room.
Until six weeks after Tex broke its shell,
That sent her to the Pamusent Wildlife Research Center,
Let her stay with the other male cranes,
for natural reproduction.
Archibald happened to be visiting at this research center at the time.
So I joined the project.
Hopefully, it will help Tex breed successfully.
But because Tex is the most important after birth
For a while, he was kept in captivity by humans.
She's already very familiar with humans,
Even think of yourself as human beings,
Therefore, it is impossible to be attracted to other male cranes.
Archibald then had one
Crazy and bold ideas,
He wanted to imitate the movements of the crane,
Make Tex fall in love with yourself.
And then through artificial insemination,
Helps Tex spawn and hatch.
In 1976, after being approved by the Government of Canada,
Tex was shipped to Archibald
Responsible for the International Crane Foundation.
Recalling the days of being a "crane",
Archibald told his story with Tex
It's much more than dancing together.
Archibald would take his office and bed
All moved to the crane house,
Slept there for a month,
And constantly talk to Tex.
Tex gradually developed a crush on Archibald,
When Archibald left for a few months and came back,
Tex is not only able to remember him clearly,
And acting very excited.
After that, Archibald and Tex
Start "dating" like a couple.
Every morning, Archibald would be there
Arrive at Tex's Crane House on time before dawn at 5 o'clock,
They would walk together to the top of the mountain.
Archibald will turn himself into a "male bird",
With open hands, flapping your wings,
And then jump around,
Squat like a male bird.
A set of actions to do down,
Archibald often gets tired and sweaty.
Whenever Archibald starts dancing,
Tex would respond to him with the same action.
The American crane is dancing
to signal mating.
After "falling in love", there should be "love crystallization",
Archibald decided to start performing artificial insemination for Tex.
When it comes to operation, Archibald will let it
Two of his colleagues hid in the shed first.
Lure Tex to the other side.
Archibald gently stroked Tex's back,
Tex lifted his tail happily.
The two colleagues took the opportunity to run out of the shed,
Artificial insemination of Tex.
Wait for Tex to react,
She immediately turned her head,
Blew those two colleagues away,
And then back to Archibald's side,
Like a shy girl.
Tex when she was 10 years old,
Just laid the first egg,
But fertilization failed.
The following year, although fertilization was successful,
But the embryo dies before it hatches.
I tried it again two years later.
But because the eggshell is too soft,
The incubation process failed.
In the process, a Japanese ornithologist
once took the place of Archibald,
But Tex didn't like him.
After that, a bird farmer
Danced with Tex for seven days,
But Tex hid far away.
The American crane is a very loyal animal,
There will only be one partner in a lifetime.
So in addition to Archibald,
She won't "fall in love" with anyone again.
In 1982, 6 years after the first artificial insemination,
Archibald decided to make one last attempt.
Finally, this time his efforts paid off.
Tex successfully laid an egg,
Archibald and colleagues
Carefully protecting the egg,
It wasn't until two weeks later that it was taken to the hatchery.
Everyone is in a worried mood,
Carefully illuminated under the light,
Excited to see the embryo inside,
Successful fertilization of this egg from Tex was announced!
But this is only the first step in the long march.
During the incubation of this egg,
There have also been various challenges.
For example, the weight of the egg is much lower than the egg of the normal American crane,
Archibald can only put it into the incubator,
Daily observation and monitoring.
Because the eggshell is too thin, the moisture loss is very fast,
Embryos will soon die from excessive dehydration.
Archibald can only adopt the University of Wisconsin
A "risk-taking" approach by an avian professor.
The professor believes that eggs are in an incubator
After being incubated for a period of time, the temperature will rise,
You can immediately put the eggs in ice water,
At this time due to thermal expansion and contraction,
The liquid part of the egg will shrink,
The external liquid will shrink internally
The resulting pressure vacuum enters the egg.
Risking the embryos being destroyed,
Archibald decided to give it a go.
After he took Tex's eggs out of the incubator,
Quickly put into ice water.
Sure enough, the moisture was successfully injected into the egg,
Archibald once again ventured through the border.
Seeing that the embryos were saved,
And the longer it gets, the bigger it gets.
Finally, on day 28,
A male crane broke out of its shell,
Archibald named him Gee Whiz.
Xiao Tsuru was very weak after birth, did not eat or drink,
Every time he spits out the water he was fed.
Because of the inability to absorb nutrients,
The crane's weight became lighter and lighter.
Archibald is like a mother taking care of her baby,
Gently insert a very thin hose into the mouth of the little crane,
Afraid of hurting him, each time only gently
Feed him a milliliter of water. Even with such caution,
He had almost lost the crane several times.
YouTube@International Crane Foundation
Little crane Gee Whiz grew up with other American cranes,
But he doesn't see himself as human like his mother, Tex.
Instead, he became the grumpiest one in the cranes.
After that, Gee Whiz was also raised with the Foundation
Other females mated and successfully gave birth to several small cranes.
Everything seems to be moving in a good direction,
Archibald and his "Crane Family"
Soon became the focus of the whole country,
He was also invited to participate in a variety show on the television station.
However, just before the show began,
Archibald received a message that almost suffocated him:
He used to be a "close lover" who accompanied him every day,
Tex, a female crane that has made great achievements in the breeding of American cranes,
Killed by a group of raccoons who broke into the crane house.
When Archibald was on the show
When this tragic news was announced,
Everyone took a breath of cool air.
And Tex also used his own death,
In exchange for public attention to the number of Crane populations.
Since then, Archibald's
American crane captive breeding conservation program
Has been moving forward smoothly and eventually making it
The number of Canadian cranes has increased significantly.
In 2012, Archibald was Tex's son
Gee Whiz celebrated his 30th birthday.
Among the many offspring bred by Gee Whiz,
One female crane became the first to succeed
American cranes that breed in the wild,
Gee Whiz has since been promoted to grandpa.
Archibald has devoted his life to it
breeding and protection of American cranes,
And his "love story" with the female crane Tex,
It will also be passed on forever...
Source: Lohas Canada