A collaborative project led by the Endangered Wildlife Trust / International Crane Foundation partnership is being formed to understand the Wattled Crane decline in Mpumalanga.
Once numbering around 45 breeding pairs, the population has plummeted to just four pairs today. In addition, citizen science data suggests that Blue Crane numbers in the province have also been declining since the 1980s, raising further concern about the health of these iconic species and their habitats. This project is being run by the Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology.
The aim of the project will be to determine how key crane habitats in the province can be improved to ensure the return of these iconic species.
In the last couple of years, the EWT/ICF African Crane Conservation Unit has been receiving reports of a lone Wattled Crane hanging around with a flock of Blue Cranes in Mpumalanga.
In early February 2026, the EWT/ICF team received a report from a farmer, accompanied by photo evidence, of the pair walking with a chick.
There are not many known cases of hybridisation such as this and even less of it being documented. The EWT/ICF team travelled to the province to monitor, photograph and document the interaction between the adult Wattled and Blue Cranes and their chick, as well as their general behaviour. The chick was then believed to be around six weeks old, resembling a Wattled Crane chick in looks and size.
In the normal life cycle of a Wattled Crane, chicks fledge at approximately five months and, at approximately 10 months of age the parents take them to a floater flock – a group of cranes that are not yet of breeding age or have yet to pair up – and leave them there to grow up, find a mate and begin a whole new circle of life.
The team decided to ring the chick so that it could be monitored further after leaving the nest. Crane chicks leave the nest to join the floater flock making individual identification more difficult. The purpose of this would be to see if it eventually paired up with another crane and bred. Genetic samples have also been taken to determine the genetic makeup of the hybrid crane and the sex of the bird. This was done when the chick was approximately 13 - 14 weeks old, and looking more like a Blue Crane with a smaller bill and head and Blue Crane colouring.
The chick has since fledged. This has meant less sightings and more difficult monitoring as the chick and his parents move around. He was last seen in early May 2026 and, interestingly, now looks more like a Wattled Crane – lighter neck colouring, grey back and is almost as big as the Wattled crane. But, he is as fast as a Blue Crane when he runs.
In the animal kingdom, hybridised species are generally infertile, but it has been confirmed by the International Crane Foundation’s (ICF) founder, George Archibald, that hybrisation between Brolga and Sarus Cranes in Australia not only occurs, but results in fertile chicks, and is actually more common than one realises. These majestic birds are now known as Sarolga.
There is no evidence to prove this in Wattled / Blue Crane hybrids as very little has ever been documented.
One of the reasons these types of hybridisations happen could be the result of habitat loss, which in turn has as a consequence the decline of cranes in certain areas. When crane numbers drop – in this case Wattled and Blue Crane numbers declined dramatically – the remaining few cranes start mingling with other crane species and eventually pair up.
** The EWT would like to thank its sponsors – the International Crane Foundation’s Conservation Impact Fund – for their ongoing support for our crane conservation projects.
Once numbering around 45 breeding pairs, the population has plummeted to just four pairs today. In addition, citizen science data suggests that Blue Crane numbers in the province have also been declining since the 1980s, raising further concern about the health of these iconic species and their habitats. This project is being run by the Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology.
The aim of the project will be to determine how key crane habitats in the province can be improved to ensure the return of these iconic species.
In the last couple of years, the EWT/ICF African Crane Conservation Unit has been receiving reports of a lone Wattled Crane hanging around with a flock of Blue Cranes in Mpumalanga.
In early February 2026, the EWT/ICF team received a report from a farmer, accompanied by photo evidence, of the pair walking with a chick.
There are not many known cases of hybridisation such as this and even less of it being documented. The EWT/ICF team travelled to the province to monitor, photograph and document the interaction between the adult Wattled and Blue Cranes and their chick, as well as their general behaviour. The chick was then believed to be around six weeks old, resembling a Wattled Crane chick in looks and size.
In the normal life cycle of a Wattled Crane, chicks fledge at approximately five months and, at approximately 10 months of age the parents take them to a floater flock – a group of cranes that are not yet of breeding age or have yet to pair up – and leave them there to grow up, find a mate and begin a whole new circle of life.
The team decided to ring the chick so that it could be monitored further after leaving the nest. Crane chicks leave the nest to join the floater flock making individual identification more difficult. The purpose of this would be to see if it eventually paired up with another crane and bred. Genetic samples have also been taken to determine the genetic makeup of the hybrid crane and the sex of the bird. This was done when the chick was approximately 13 - 14 weeks old, and looking more like a Blue Crane with a smaller bill and head and Blue Crane colouring.
The chick has since fledged. This has meant less sightings and more difficult monitoring as the chick and his parents move around. He was last seen in early May 2026 and, interestingly, now looks more like a Wattled Crane – lighter neck colouring, grey back and is almost as big as the Wattled crane. But, he is as fast as a Blue Crane when he runs.
In the animal kingdom, hybridised species are generally infertile, but it has been confirmed by the International Crane Foundation’s (ICF) founder, George Archibald, that hybrisation between Brolga and Sarus Cranes in Australia not only occurs, but results in fertile chicks, and is actually more common than one realises. These majestic birds are now known as Sarolga.
There is no evidence to prove this in Wattled / Blue Crane hybrids as very little has ever been documented.
One of the reasons these types of hybridisations happen could be the result of habitat loss, which in turn has as a consequence the decline of cranes in certain areas. When crane numbers drop – in this case Wattled and Blue Crane numbers declined dramatically – the remaining few cranes start mingling with other crane species and eventually pair up.
** The EWT would like to thank its sponsors – the International Crane Foundation’s Conservation Impact Fund – for their ongoing support for our crane conservation projects.
