Cranes learn migration from elders: study




But a growing captive-bred group in Maryland has provided researchers with an unparalleled set of genetic and travel data to study, answering the critical question of whether the birds are programmed by nature to make their way south or if their behavior is learned.

“The knowledge is transmitted from older to younger birds,” said study co-author Thomas Mueller, a biologist at the University of Maryland. “Migration becomes more and more efficient as these birds age and that takes place over many years.”

Without an experienced crane to follow, young birds strayed much farther from their intended path, said the findings in the journal Science. The longer the birds practiced, the better they became at sticking to a straight route.

The research was based on eight years of data from a population of 73 birds that were bred in captivity. In this particular study, humans play a key role in getting the migration started.

The chicks are born in the spring and soon begin learning to follow a light aircraft that is at first driven along the ground by a human wearing a white-suit disguise in order to prevent the birds from growing accustomed to humans in their midst. Later, the aircraft is flown as the birds gain strength. Eventually, in the fall, the young birds will follow this aircraft all they way south.


Scientists studied the birds’ behavior beginning the first year after the human-led flight. Their movements were tracked by satellite transmitters, radio telemetry and people observing them from the ground.

Researchers found that groups that included a 7-year-old adult were much better able to stick to a straight path for the 2,000-km journey.

One-year-old birds that did not follow older birds veered an average of about 100 km from a straight flight path. But when the 1-year-old cranes traveled with older birds, the average deviation was less than 64 km.
