Nestlings Behavior Development Of Red-Crowned Crane In Captivity

In the methods of Focal sampling and Scan sampling, author continuously observed the behavior of six captive Red-crowned Crane nestlings for12weeks in Zha Long Nature Reserve from June2011to September2011. Author studied the ethogram and the behavior time budget and the day behavior regularity of captive Red-crowned Crane nestling in the process of growth and development. Author divides behavior development of nestling into three phases: learning phase (0-2weeks), development phase (3-8weeks) and stable phase (9-12weeks). Day activities are divided into two conditions:cage environment and outside cage environment. The results show that:The behaviors of Red-crowned Crane nestling are wandering, resting, feeding, preening, watching, playing and others. With week age, the time budget of resting reduce significantly, and the time budget of wandering, feeding, preening and watching increase, while the time budget of playing first increase gradually and then reduce and to stability last, and the time budget of others reduce gradually and to0finally. Finally, the time budget of each behavior of captive Red-crowned Crane nestling is:wanderingl4.83%, resting16.8%, feeding29.08%, preening15.33%, watching13.75%, playing9.41%and others0.79%.The behavior of Red-crowned Crane nestling shows circadian rhythm generally. Wandering occurs mainly in the6:00～10:00and14:00～16:00. Resting concentrated occurs in the10:00～14:00and14:00～18:00. Feeding time budget outside cage period are more, so the time distribution of feeding is more in the6:00～10:00and14:00-18:00. Preening occurs mostly in the9:00～14:00and16:00～17:00. Watching and playing occurs during all the day activities. The daily rhythm of Red-crowned Crane nestling is affected by activity environment and applies to feeding on time. Wandering occurs mostly outside cage. Resting occurs to lag after wandering. Resting are often accompany with preening. Freedom period and feeding tine are feeding fastigium. Watching is related to surrounding environment changes. Playing occurs mostly in the cage period.During the process of artificial feeding domesticated, the Red-crowned Crane nestling study feeding, drinking, foraging, flying and so on. Artificial domesticated affects the every link in the process of growth and development of Red-crowned Crane nestling. The behaviors of nestling are affected by temperature and weather. When it is cold and rainy, the mainly behavior is watching. When the temperature is more than28℃and wind-force is lower than level3, the behaviors of opening the mouth to reduce heat and bathing occur mostly.