MINIMUM SURVIVAL RATES FOR MISSISSIPPI SANDHILL CRANES: A COMPARISON OF HAND-REARING AND PARENT-REARING

Authors

DAVID H. ELLIS, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research CenterFollow
GEORGE F. GEE, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
GLENN H. OLSEN, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
SCOTT G. HEREFORD, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
JANE M. NICOLICH, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
NANCY J. THOMAS, USGS National Wildlife Health Center
MEENAKSHI NAGENDRAN, Merced, CA

Date of this Version

2001

Document Type

Article

Citation

Ellis, David H., Gee, George F., Olsen, Glenn H. H., Hereford, Scott G., Nicolich, Jane M., Thomas, Nancy J., and Nagendran, Meenakshi. Minimum survival rates for Mississippi sandhill cranes: a comparison of hand-rearing and parent-rearing. In: Ellis, David H., ed., Proceedings of the Eighth North American Crane Workshop, 11–14 January 2000, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Seattle, Wash: North American Crane Working Group, 2001), pp. 80-84.

Comments

Reproduced by permission of the North American Crane Working Group (NACWG).

Abstract

Hand-reared (56) and parent-reared (76) juvenile Mississippi sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pulla) were produced at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (patuxent), Laurel, Maryland over a 4-year period (1989-92) and released at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), Gautier, Mississippi in a controlled experiment. Hand-reared survival rates proved higher than for parent-reared survival for each time category: 6 months, 86% versus 75%; 1 year, 77% versus 68%; 2 years, 66% versus 53%; 3 years, 55% versus 43%: partial data for fourth and fifth years were 57% versus 31 % and 48% versus 37%.