But if those parents are Homo sapiens, then the cranes believe humans are their parents. It took a lot of time, and made Archibald look a trifle foolish, but it did succeed in hatching a new whooper in 1982 through artificial insemination. Important imprinting Having learned an expensive lesson on the power of imprinting, the Foundation now goes to great length to ensure that cranes destined for return to the wild can recognize their fellow cranes. The young are fed with a bogus crane beak. Tapes of crane noises, like the soft purrs of brooding parent cranes, play in the rearing houses.
Humans stay out of sight and speak only in whispers.
Crane chicks being fed. The tenders spend lots of time in the water, teaching cranes that it's safer to roost on water than on land, where cranes are vulnerable to bobcats and other mammals that scoff at endangered species laws. The crane raisers have no truck with the warm fuzzies that Jessie shared with Willy the killer whale. Instead, preparation for life in the wild includes being harassed by uncostumed humans, to teach the elegant birds to fear this two-legged predator. Cranes, as we've seen, must learn to recognize their own species, but they do have some innate skills as well, Archibald says.