NEW DELHI: The sarus crane, the world’s tallest flying bird, is changing its social habits due to climate change. The water bird is monogamous, meaning it pairs up for life. Three Indian ecologists have discovered the birds forming a trio by allowing a third sarus crane to join them and help them raise chicks in tougher conditions.
The study titled ‘Sarus Crane (Antigone) Trios and their Triets: Discovery of a Novel Social Unit in Cranes’, published in Ecological Society of America Journal, observed this phenomenon in landscapes of poor quality, that is with fewer wetlands and fewer sarus pairs.
