In 1976, a scientist began dancing like a crane every day; the chick it helped produce became an ancestor to 178 endangered birds

Some conservation stories are stranger than fiction. This one involves a bird, a scientist, and years of daily dancing in a Wisconsin barn.

A whooping crane named Gee Whiz died on February 24, 2021, at age 38, leaving behind a family of 178 genetically diverse whooping cranes. That number matters, because this species almost disappeared completely. His story starts with his mother, and with a man who was willing to look a little silly for a good cause.