How many young does each whooping crane pair produce each year?
In Wood Buffalo Park, 50 pairs of cranes produce from 15 to 30 chicks each year. Whooping cranes do not start breeding until they are four or five years old even though they have their adult plumage by the time they are a little over one year old. When they do mate, they are monogamous and have the same mate for life. If one of the pairs dies, the remaining bird will mate with another. Whooping cranes usually nest once each year, but sometimes they will lay a second clutch of eggs if their first is destroyed. Occasionally a pair will skip a nesting season if conditions are unsuitable or for no apparent reason. Whooping crane pairs lay two eggs in late April to mid-May, with hatching one month later. The parents share incubation and rearing duties although the female takes the primary role in feeding and caring for the young. Most often, successful nesting pairs raise one young each year. As a rule, fierce competition between the two chicks usually results in the death of the smaller, w
