Beijing, May 15 (Youth.cn) - On May 14, 2025, at the Zhalong National Nature Reserve in Heilongjiang Province, red-crowned cranes are nurturing their chicks. Since March 13 this year, when the first egg of the season was laid by free-ranging cranes in the reserve, a new breeding cycle has commenced across its wetlands.

Since 1984, Zhalong Reserve has pioneered the practice of allowing captive-bred red-crowned cranes to overwinter in the wild, gradually establishing a semi-wild population. Over four decades, the reserve has refined a three-stage rewilding strategy: parental release → intermediate population (free-ranging cranes) → offspring adaptation to the wild. To date, satellite trackers (GPS) and ring-tagging methods have successfully recorded 25 migration trajectories, while the reserve’s breeding center maintains 12 to 15 stable free-ranging breeding pairs in its vicinity.

As of 2025, 15 free-ranging breeding pairs have been observed nesting and laying eggs, hatching 24 chicks, among which approximately 14 survived. This marks a critical milestone in the reserve’s efforts to rebuild wild populations of this endangered species, listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Photo/CFP