In order to help the whooping cranes recover certain technologies have been used. One of these is artificial incubation. Whooping crane eggs are incubated to replace their parents’ warmth. It is meant to simulate the heat of the parents’ bodies and keep the whooping cranes alive. Tying in with that, there is the problem of getting eggs. Apart from taking one egg from a nest (the second hatched crane usually dies), artificial insemination is used to inseminate females in captivity so they can lay eggs, which are then put into the incubator.
Later in the whooping cranes’ lives, ultra light aircraft become important. The idea is to make the birds think that the planes are their parents, and lead them to a destination, teaching them to migrate. This was tried originally on geese and sandhill cranes, but after the success of the experiments, it was also tried on whooping cranes. The attempt was successful, and in seven years, 108 whooping cranes were led south and taught to migrate between Wisconsin and Florida. As of February 2008, 76 cranes are in this population, called the Eastern Migratory Population.
It is a start, but whooping cranes are still endangered. With much hard work and determination, the whooping crane population will continue to grow, and maybe, just maybe, get off the endangered list.
