Visitors to an exhibition about Japanese red-crowned cranes will be amazed to learn that the chicks make noises even before hatching from the egg, the Taipei Zoo said yesterday.
To help raise awareness of wetlands protection and to celebrate the arrival of a pair of red-crowned cranes from Japan named Big and Kika, Taipei Zoo is putting on the exhibition, which opens today and runs through December.
The sound of the cranes will be the theme of the exhibition. Their calls are important for communication and defending territory, it said.
The noises the birds make at different ages have different meanings. For example, two-year-old chicks purr, while three or four-year-old adults utter many vocalizations from low-pitched purrs to ear-piercing calls, the zoo said.
Visitors will be also be able to learn about the endangered cranes through photographs and painting activities, it said.
The birds — thank-you gifts for Taiwan’s contribution following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami — will go on display on Oct. 30 in the case of the male, while the more shy female will not go on show until early next year.
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