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Demoiselle crane
Flock at Tal Chhapar Sanctuary, Churu, Rajasthan
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Gruidae
Genus:	Grus
Species:	G. virgo
Binomial name
Grus virgo (Linnaeus, 1758)
Range of G. virgo  Breeding   Passage   Non-breeding
Synonyms
Anthropoides virgo (Linnaeus, 1758) Ardea virgo Linnaeus, 1758 Grus ornata Brehm, CL, 1855

The demoiselle crane (Grus virgo) is a species of crane found in central Eurosiberia, ranging from the Black Sea to Mongolia and Northeast China. There is also a small breeding population in Turkey. These cranes are migratory birds. Birds from western Eurasia will spend the winter in Africa while the birds from Asia, Mongolia and China will spend the winter in the Indian subcontinent. The bird is symbolically significant in the culture of India, where it is known as koonj or kurjaa.

Taxonomy

The demoiselle crane was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the herons and cranes in the genus Ardea and coined the binomial name Ardea virgo. He specified the type locality as the orient but this has been restricted to India. Linnaeus cited the accounts by earlier authors. The English naturalist Eleazar Albin had described and illustrated the "Numidian crane" in 1738. Albin explained that: "This Bird is called Demoiselles by reason of certain ways of acting that it has, wherein it seems to imitate the Gestures of a Woman who affects a Grace in her Walking, Obeisances, and Dancing". Linnaeus also cited the English naturalist George Edwards who had described and illustrated the "Demoiselle of Numidia" in 1750. The name "la demoiselle de Numidie" had been used in 1676 by the French naturalist Claude Perrault. The demoiselle crane is now placed in the genus Grus that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The species is treated as monospecific: no subspecies are recognised. The genus name Grus is the Latin word for a "crane". The specific epithet virgo is Latin meaning "maiden". Some authorities place this species together with the closely related blue crane (Grus paradisea) in the genus Anthropoides.

Description

The demoiselle is 85–100 cm (33.5–39.5 in) long, 76 cm (30 in) tall and has a 155–180 cm (61–71 in) wingspan. It weighs 2–3 kg (4.4–6.6 lb). It is the smallest species of crane. The demoiselle crane is slightly smaller than the common crane but has similar plumage. It has a long white neck stripe and the black on the foreneck extends down over the chest in a plume.

It has a loud trumpeting call, higher-pitched than the common crane. Like other cranes it has a dancing display, more balletic than the common crane, with less leaping.

Distribution and habitat

The demoiselle crane breeds in central Eurasia from the Black Sea east to Mongolia and northeast China. It breeds in open habitats with sparse vegetation, usually near water. In winter it migrates either to the Sahel region of Africa, from Lake Chad eastwards to southern Ethiopia, or to western regions of the Indian subcontinent. There was previously a small population in Turkey and an isolated resident population in the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa. These are both now extinct. On its Indian wintering grounds it forms large flocks which gather on agricultural land. It roosts at night in shallow open water.

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

Eggs are laid between April and May. The minimal nest is placed on an open patch of grass or bare ground. The clutch is normally two eggs. These are laid at daily intervals and incubation begins after the first egg. Incubation is by both sexes but mainly by the female. The eggs hatch asynchronously after 27 to 29 days. The chicks are pale brown above and greyish white below. They are fed and cared for by both parents. The fledgeling period is between 55 and 65 days. They first breed when they are two years old.

In culture

The demoiselle crane is known as the koonj/kurjan in the languages of North India, and figure prominently in the literature, poetry and idiom of the region. Beautiful women are often compared to the koonj because its long and thin shape is considered graceful. Metaphorical references are also often made to the koonj for people who have ventured far from home or undertaken hazardous journeys.

The name koonj is derived from the Sanskrit word kraunch, which is a cognate Indo-European term for crane itself. In the ancient story of Valmiki, the composer of the Hindu epic Ramayana, it is claimed that his first verse was inspired by the sight of a hunter kill the male of a pair of demoiselle cranes that were courting. Observing the lovelorn female circling and crying in grief, he cursed the hunter in verse. Since tradition held that all poetry prior to this moment had been revealed rather than created by man, this verse concerning the demoiselle cranes is regarded as the first human-composed meter.

The flying formation of the koonj during migrations also inspired infantry formations in ancient India. The Mahabharata epic describes both warring sides adopting the koonj formation on the second day of the Kurukshetra War.

• In the village of Khichan, Rajasthan India
• Portrait
• Near Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
• Chick with parent at Hellabrunn Zoo, Munich, Germany

References

1. ^ BirdLife International (2018). "Anthropoides virgo". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22692081A131927771. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22692081A131927771.en. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
2. "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
3. ^ R. K. Gaur (1994), Indian Birds, Brijbasi Printers, 1994, ISBN 9788171070312, The smallest member of the crane family, the demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo) is a distinctive looking bird, with ashy grey ... The local name for this crane — koonj — is onomatopoeic, deriving from the Sanskrit 'kraunch', the origin of the word crane itself
4. Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 141.
5. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 153–154.
6. Albin, Eleazar; Derham, William (1738). A Natural History of Birds : Illustrated with a Hundred and One Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life. Vol. 3. London: Printed for the author and sold by William Innys. p. 78, Plate 83.
7. Edwards, George (1750). A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Vol. 3. London: Printed for the author at the College of Physicians. p. 134, Plate 134.
8. Perrault, Claude (1676). Mémoires pour Servir à l'Histoire Naturelle des Animaux (in French). Paris: Imprimerie royale. p. 157-162, Plate.
9. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "Finfoots, flufftails, rails, trumpeters, cranes, Limpkin". IOC World Bird List Version 14.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
10. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 179, 403. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
11. Clements, J.F.; Rasmussen, P.C.; Schulenberg, T.S.; Iliff, M.J.; Fredericks, T.A.; Gerbracht, J.A.; Lepage, D.; Spencer, A.; Billerman, S.M.; Sullivan, B.L.; Wood, C.L. (2023). "The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2023". Retrieved 26 July 2024.
12. ^ Archibald, G.W.; Meine, C.D. (1996). "Family Gruidae (Cranes)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 60–89 . ISBN 978-84-87334-20-7.
13. Demoiselle Crane, Int. Crane Foundation
14. Ali, S. (1993). The Book of Indian Birds. Bombay: Bombay Natural History Society. ISBN 978-0-19-563731-1.
15. Ilyashenko, E.I.; Mudrik, E.A.; Andryushchenko, Y.A.; Belik, V.P.; Belyalov, O.V.; Wikelski, M.; Gavrilov, A.E.; Goroshko, O.A.; Guguyeva, E.V.; Korepov, M.V.; Mnatsekanov, R.A.; Politov, D.V.; Postelnykh, K.A.; Lei, C.; Ilyashenko, V.Y. (2022). "Migrations of the Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo, Gruiformes): remote tracking along flyways and at wintering grounds". Biology Bulletin. 49 (7): 863–888. Bibcode:2022BioBu..49..863I. doi:10.1134/S1062359022070068.
16. Johnsgard, Paul A. (1983). "Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo)". Cranes of the World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 95–102. Also available from the Internet Archive here (registration required).
17. Cramp, Stanley, ed. (1980). "Grus virgo Demoiselle crane". Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Vol. II: Hawks to Bustards. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 631–636. ISBN 978-0-19-857505-4.
18. Department of English, University of Delhi (September 2005). The Individual and Society. Pearson Education India, 2005. ISBN 978-81-317-0417-2. kunj: more properly koonj is a demoiselle crane. The word is used metaphorically for a young bride far from her home
19. Dinkar Joshi; Yogesh Patel (2005). Glimpses of Indian Culture. Star Publications, 2005. ISBN 978-81-7650-190-3. Valmiki saw a pair of kraunch (cranes) birds making love. Suddenly, a hunter killed the male kraunch with an arrow. Valmiki was moved by the cries of the female ... Valmiki's pain was expressed through a shloka ... The first man-composed meter
20. Ramesh Menon (20 July 2006). The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering. iUniverse, 2006. ISBN 978-0-595-40188-8. The second day: Two kraunchas ... Yudhishtira decides to form his legions in the vyuha called the krauncha, after the crane

External links

• eBird Species Factsheet
• Demoiselle crane at Animal Diversity Web
• Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo) from Cranes of the World (1983) by Paul Johnsgard

• Birds

• IUCN Red List least concern species
• Grus (genus)
• Birds of Central Asia
• Birds of Mongolia
• Birds of Central Africa
• Birds of East Africa
• Birds described in 1758
• Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus