Identification
- Appearance: The head and neck are featherless, with a gray patch on the cheeks. There are a few black feathers on the throat and around the nape. The underneck and the remaining plumage are pearly gray.
- Wings: Primary coverts and primaries, and winglets are black.
- Bill: Pale gray-green.
- Eyes: Yellow-orange.
- Legs: Flesh-red.
- Skin: The bare skin on the head and bill is red, resembling the color of Antigonon flowers.
Biology and Ecology
This species inhabits only flooded, acidic (saline) wetlands with Eleocharis (spike-rush). They appear in the Mekong Delta during the dry season, from October to March, to forage, and then migrate to Cambodia for breeding.
Distribution
- Vietnam: Southern and South-Central regions, primarily in the Mekong Delta provinces (Đồng Tháp, An Giang, Hậu Giang, Tiền Giang, Kiên Giang, Long An).
- World: Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand (currently not found in the wild).
Value
A rare genetic resource, one of the world’s 15 crane species.
Conservation Status
- No information about the species was available during the Vietnam War.
- Rediscovered in 1985 in Tràm Chim, Tam Nông District, Đồng Tháp Province.
- In 1990, 1,110 individuals were counted in Tràm Chim.
- In recent years, the population has been declining due to the expansion of canals and the planting of Melaleuca trees in their foraging grounds (spike-rush meadows), and the expansion of rice cultivation and the invasion of Mimosa pigra within the Tràm Chim protected area, a crane conservation area.
- Consequently, in recent years, the species has been observed foraging in a scattered manner across several provinces in the Mekong Delta, whereas they previously congregated in large flocks in Tràm Chim during the dry season.
- This species only visits Vietnam during the dry season to forage; there is no information about breeding in Vietnam.
- In May 1995, a specimen was collected in Đắk Lắk (Yok Don region); in March 2004, the species was observed in Yok Don National Park (PARC, 5/2004).
IUCN Red List Category
VU A1a,c,e B1 3a,b,c,d D1
Conservation Measures
- Recommendations:
- As per the Vietnam Red Book (1992, 2000), there needs to be a rational plan for the expansion of agricultural land, specifically rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta, especially in the Đồng Tháp Mười region.
- Tràm Chim National Park (Đồng Tháp) is the first place in Vietnam to conserve this crane species; it is necessary to protect the spike-rush meadows that are their foraging grounds and avoid clearing them for rice, Melaleuca trees, and other agricultural crops.
- Additionally, wetlands with Eleocharis distributed in Kiên Giang, An Giang, and Hậu Giang provinces also need proper management to avoid shrinking and loss of foraging grounds for the Sarus Crane during the dry season, their migratory season in Vietnam.
- Surveys and monitoring of their presence in Yok Don National Park are needed.