KUSHIRO, Japan - The oldest red-crowned crane known to be in the wild has died at the age of 35 years, apparently hit by a vehicle on a public road, according to government and other sources.
Protected under the cultural properties protection law, red-crowned cranes are found in Japan only in Hokkaido. They live for around 10 years on average, and researchers say the male bird may have been the world's oldest known wild bird of the species based on publicly available data.
A nonprofit research and conservation group in Hokkaido found the bird, identified as T26, dead on a public road in Nemuro in the east of the island in June, according to the Environment Ministry and other sources. The bird was born in June 1991.
Red-crowned cranes were once thought to be extinct due to overhunting and the loss of habitats but sighted again in 1924 in Kushiro, also in eastern Hokkaido.
According to a survey by the Red-crowned Crane Conservancy group, over 2,000 of the birds have been found in Hokkaido. The ministry removed the species from its endangered list this year.
The increase in the red-crowned crane population has meant that they are more likely to get killed or injured in collision with cars or trains.
"Keeping records of one bird for 35 years tells us how it lived season by season, going far beyond just gathering information on population size," Kunikazu Momose of the conservation group said.
