Here is the passport information about this pair of Siberian cranes: Species Grus leucogeranus Name KIENG № OR-1-30 sex male International tribal book (ITB), № 67 Parents: from natural field Date of birth: June, 2. 1986. Place of birth: The Nursery of rare cranes Place, where the egg is from: Yakutia, Allaikhovsky district Type of breeding: domesticated Species Grus leucogeranus Name Glass № OR-1-74 sex female International tribal book (ITB), № 154 Parents: mother Oka, № ITB 86 father Dushechka, № ITB 40 Date of birth: May, 11. 1994. Place of birth: The Nursery of rare cranes Place, where the egg is from: International Cranes Foundation, USA Type of breeding: isolated July 2, 1994. She was sent to Kunovatskiy Reservation, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District September 27, 1994. She was returned to the Nursery July 8, 1995. She was sent for Kunovatskiy Reservation, and was released from Liberty September 5, 1995. She was caught in Elizarovskiy Reservation, Khanty Mansiysk AD October 20, 1995. She was returned to the Nursery But the life of these birds is much more eventful. The head of the family, Siberian crane called Kieng is a male in the prime of life. He is from the native population (Allaikhovskiy region, Yakutiya). Nevertheless, the Nursery is considered to be the place of his born. 12 eggs from the nests of wild Siberian cranes were collected during the expedition conducted by the All-Russian Scientific Institute of Nature Conservation in 1986. Only one egg was taken from each nest in order to reserve one nestling for parents, and so that grown Siberian cranes would not be relatives. This is very important for breeding rare forms of animals in captivity. Egg number 86-1-W/3 hatched out on June 30 being in incubator on its way from Moscow to Brykin Bor - the central farmstead of Oksky Strict Nature Reserve. The number of the egg contains the information: the first number means two last figures of the year. The number, which indicates the form of a crane, is written through the hyphen. Siberian crane is considered as the first number for the Nursery. The second hyphen comes before the number of female. In this case, the female was from the field; so it is marked by letter W (wild) and number indicates the number of the nest, from which the egg was taken. The eggs were brought to the Nursery and placed into the incubator on July, 1. The nestling completely was freed from the shell without help in the evening, till 7:45 p.m. During aerial census of the Siberian cranes nests the participants of expedition also gathered the names of the numerous tundra lakes, on which shores Siberian cranes arranged nests. Our hero was called as a lake Kieng. Marakan, Banyl, Igel, Kyulyumer, Kyuel, Uol, Bakul, Byugyuchen, Usun, Yute, Bute hatched from other 11 eggs. Not all of them are still alive, but five are and bring posterity, which many times exceeded the number of eggs collected in nature. Kieng grew tamed in the Nursery as all others baby cranes in those years. He lived in the individual cage, walked in the flood-lands forest and to the bank of the Pra river with the individual herdsman (collaborator or student). When he and also his “school-mates” were one month old they lost aggressiveness to each other. Nestlings were joined, first at the walks, and then in the cage. Here is his characteristic, wrote by the students that raised Siberian cranes: “Kieng was introduced into the flock on August, 8. It is practically not aggressiveness, only sometimes in relation to Kyuel. Strong, calm, follows to the walk in the middle of flock, can stay in the raspberry patch, but always gives voice and comes to the call. It eats well, but sometimes decline cottage cheese. Health: to control feet! Character is steady, independent. Sagacious, goes well to the weights. It trusts people. Most likely, it is a male”. An elegant female Usun was assigned to grown Kieng as a girl-friend in October. Birds lived in one cage for 4 years, but they were not a family. Then Kieng was proposed to make family with female Pra. Again birds lived together for a long time. Also it was necessary to separate them after they fought. Later, they managed to fight being located in the different cages. Pra broke the beak against the wire mesh, which divided them. Kieng stayed alone. His character was corrupted; he protected his cage from everyone for 4 more years. Glass was born from the egg number 6-30-5-94. Common information about the egg is presented in another sequence, as it was received in the Eastern hemisphere. Egg was obtained from the International crane Foundation (ICF), its parents were female Oka and male Dushechka (by the way, the first Siberian crane nestling, which appeared in captivity). George Archibald, the director of ICF brought 10 Siberian cranes eggs from his center for the training by the special isolated method and further release to nature in 1994. An egg number 6-30-5-94 was among them. The strange name of nestling was caused by a joke. An experiment on Siberian cranes growing by the method of isolation was carried out for the first time in 1991 in Kunovatskiy Reservation in Russia. A participant of the experiment, the ornithologist from the USA Mini Nagendran called one of baby-cranes with a popular Russian word “Vodka”. Three years later George Archibald continued the joke: “If there is vodka, there should be a glass”. In Russian transcription glass is quite similar to Russian “glaz” - an eye. Sounds strange… “As you called a boat, so that would be a trip…” We recalled the words of this popular song the following day after Glass birth. She was placed into the play-pen - small reticulated cage inside the bigger one. A little baby-crane Mini had already lived in that one. All small cranes are very aggressive to each other; therefore two week Mini, trying to reach Glass, found a slot and beat her. When time to feed nestlings came, Glass was lying on her back upside down, and her eyes were strongly clogged by sawdust. She did not see for several days, eyes were washed, ocular drops were buried. Glass was fed by placing fodder directly into the mouth so that it would only be swallowed. But everything went good, nestling got well. 10 nestlings including Glass were reared by the isolated or costume method. The essence of the method consists in the fact that people, which bring up nestlings, bear the white suits, which imitate adult Siberian cranes, and hide figure and face of a man. This masquerade is necessary for two reasons. First one is a correct imprinting, i.e., imprinting a crane as a parent. Anatomically correct model of Siberian crane’s head, from which the nestling obtains fodder greatly helps in it. The second reason is that a crane would avoid people if a nestling never saw them in the childhood. This quality is also necessary for the life of Siberian cranes, which frequently become the victims of poachers. Glass was transported to Kunovatskiy Reservation in the group of isolated Siberian crane nestlings and one Gray crane on July 2. There all they were released on the territory of the only known pair of Siberian cranes. Unfortunately, wild Siberian cranes, which had lost their nestling, left their territory before “foundlings” became good in flying. Three of them flew away with the wild Gray cranes, and 5 were returned to the Nursery. The next chance to become wild was given to Glass during the next summer. Together with 4 nestlings she was sent for Kunovatskiy Protected Area to imprint real, not costume Siberian cranes. She was let out near the nestling cages. The first time Glass was near them, and then she settled separately, rarely joined them at the walks. She joined with the nestling Liberty at the end of summer. Together they inspected marsh, fed, circled territories, contacted with the wild Gray cranes and disappeared on August 28. Glass was caught on September 5, in the Elizarovskiy Protected Area. It is situated in the flood-lands of the Ob river, 400 km to the South of the place of release. The bird was returned to the Nursery. The attempt to combine Glass with the male India did not succeed in 1997. In 1998 she was proposed to feel out the male Uchur that was saved in Yakutiya. But Uchur liked Samgym. They began to pipe in unison from different cages. They were combined, and Glass got as a neighbor Kieng, pleased to nobody. First there was no sympathy at all. Glass danced for people, Kieng hated everyone. But time created a miracle. We can read a note in the diary of the Nursery’s events dated by March: “Kieng and Glass greased necks by mud.” What a luck! The strange to Siberian cranes problems person doesn’t know, that Siberian cranes begin to grease their necks when they are going to build a nest. However, nest did not come out, but the union did. Glass, according to her “pedagogical” past, was removed from Kieng and placed next to the growing up nestlings for the imprinting in June. Kieng called her all day long. She was returned, and since then they are together. The first eggs appeared in 2002. Jana hatched from one of them. However, nestling was taken away and reared by complex costume method. Also nestling was accustomed to deltalet, which shows migratory way to siberian cranes. Jana was strong and daring nestling. The price for his carelessness was his life. During the trainings with deltalet Jana fell under the screw of flight vehicle and perished. An embryo in the second egg of the first laying died. The egg was replaced with a living one from the pair of Bakul-Byugyuchen (these names are already known for you). Kieng and Glass reared hatched Rattsa themselves. Rattsa grew in large and independent nestling. In the group with another young cranes (Onega, Usmanka, Bitug, Dnepr, Yauza, Pronya) he was released in Belozersk Protected Area in the south of Tyumen region. There is a stop at the migration paths of Siberian and Gray cranes. By that time Siberian cranes born in the Nursery were called as rivers’ names. In 2003 nestling Ural continued the affair of brothers; he was grown by costume method and let out in the group of others young cranes (Kama, Vilyuy, Chunya, Olenek, Istra) in Kunovatskiy Reservation. Moreover Istra was a receiving child in the family Kieng-Glass. Then there were dead in the infancy Pizhma and Juza. Now the last daughter Lotta lives in the Nursery. She is only one year old.