Gruidae
Gruiformes - Gruidae - Cranes
© Phil Clayton
Wild diet: Omnivores and opportunistic feeders that have adapted to benefit from agricultural fields over the last few thousand years. The Cranes diet varies between species, but will include a variety of; plant roots, tubers, small vertebrates, invertebrates, insects, crustaceans, waste grains, seeds, grasses and other plant material.
Feeding strategy: Several Grus species, both crowned cranes and both species of Anthropoides have short beaks with which they can pluck seeds from grass stems, graze on fresh vegetation as well grasp insects. Most of the endangered species have long, powerful mandibles, which are used to dig in muddy soils for plant roots and tubers- and to grasp small aquatic animals such as small fish, crustaceans and amphibians. Aquatic feeders include larger cranes such as Wattled, Sarus, Brolga, Whooping, Siberian, Red- Crowned and White-naped.
Perrins, C. The New Encyclopaedia of Birds, Oxford University Press, 2003
Cranes: Their Biology, Husbandry, and Conservation. Chapter 8 - Medicine and Surgery >
There are no diets in use yet for the General Crane Information.
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The influence of diet composition upon growth and development of sandhill cranes >
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