KARYOTY,PE AND IDENTIFICATION OF SEX IN TWO ENDANGERED CRANE SPECIES

Authors

Carll Goodpasture, Division of Animal Genetics, Vivigen, Inc.
Gustavo Seluja, Division of Animal Genetics, Vivigen, Inc.
George Gee, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Date of this Version

1992

Document Type

Article

Citation

Goodpasture, C., G. Seluja, and G.Gee. Karyotype and identification of sex in two endangered crane species. In: Wood D. A., ed. 1992. Proceedings 1988 North American Crane Workshop, Feb. 22–24, 1988. Lake Wales, Florida (Tallahassee, FL: State of Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission Nongame Wildlife Program Technical Report #12, 1992), pp. 219-224.

Comments

Used by permission of the North American Crane Working Group.

Abstract

A laboratory procedure for sex identification of monomorphic birds was developed using modern cytological methods of detecting chromosome abnormalities in human amniotic fluid samples. A pin feather is taken from a pre-fledging bird for tissue culture and karyotype analysis. Through this method, the sex was identified and the karyotype described of the whooping crane (Grus americana) and the Mississippi sandhill crane (G. canadensis pulla). Giemsa-stained karyotypes of these species showed an identical chromosome constitution with 2n = 78 ± 2. However, differences in the amount of centromeric heterochromatin were observed in the Mississippi sandhill crane when compared to the whooping crane C-banded karyotype.