Siberian crane
Leucogeranus leucogeranus (Pallas, 1773)
The siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus), also called the snow crane or Siberian white crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae in the order Gruiformes. It is a migratory omnivore of wetland habitats with a terrestrial foraging lifestyle.
Quick facts about the siberian crane
A medium-sized bird, it has a representative adult body mass of 5.9 kg (from 5.475 to 6.318 kg) and a wingspan of 2.35 m (from 2.1 to 2.6 m). The IUCN Red List classifies it as Critically Endangered; it lays 2 eggs per clutch, one clutch per year, with an incubation period of 29 days.
- Weight
- 5.48 kg – 6.32 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 2.1 m – 2.6 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 36.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 39.4 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 29 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 5.97 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the siberian crane?
Photos of the siberian crane
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the siberian crane live?
Not recorded
What is the siberian crane?
The Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus), also known as the Siberian white crane or the snow crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. They are distinctive among the cranes: adults are nearly all snowy white, except for their black primary feathers that are visible in flight, and with two breeding populations in the Arctic tundra of western and eastern Russia. The eastern populations migrate during winter to China, while the western population winters in Iran and (formerly) in Bharatpur, India.
Among the cranes, they make the longest distance migrations. Their populations, particularly those in the western range, have declined drastically in the 20th century due to hunting along their migration routes and habitat degradation. The world population was estimated in 2010 at about 3,200 birds, mostly belonging to the eastern population with about 93% of them wintering in the Poyang Lake basin in China, a habitat that may be altered by the Three Gorges Dam. The population in 2024 was estimated to have expanded to about 5,500 individuals.
From the Wikipedia article “Siberian crane” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Siberian_crane&oldid=1380578715), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the siberian crane endangered?
The siberian crane is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Critically Endangered species. What the categories mean.
How is the siberian crane classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderGruiformes
- familyGruidae
- genusLeucogeranus
- SpeciesLeucogeranus leucogeranus (Pallas, 1773)
Synonyms Bugeranus leucogeranus, Grus leucogeranus, Grus poli
Other names and names in other languages (70)
- Siberian white craneEnglish
- Snow craneEnglish
- كركي الثلجArabic
- كركي سيبيريArabic
- كركي أبيض سيبيريArabic
- Ağ durnaAzerbaijani
- Аҡ торнаBashkir
- СцерхBelarusian
- Сибирски жеравBulgarian
- Бял сибирски жеравBulgarian
- সাইবেরিয়ান সারসBangla
- Garan SibiriaBreton
- grua siberianaCatalan
- Ош тыртняMari
- jeřáb bílýCzech
- Garan gwyn SiberiaWelsh
- SnetraneDanish
- NonnenkranichGerman
- SchneekranichGerman
- Blanka gruoEsperanto
- siberia gruoEsperanto
- Grulla siberianaSpanish
- valgekurgEstonian
- Kurrilo zuriBasque
- درنای سیبریPersian
- lumikurkiFinnish
- Grue de SibérieFrench
- Grús SibéarachIrish
- Groose ShibbeyraghManx
- Pha̍k-ho̍k-éHakka Chinese
- עגור סיביריHebrew
- snježni ždralCroatian
- hódaruHungarian
- Jenjang SiberiaIndonesian
- SnjótranaIcelandic
- Gru siberianaItalian
- ソデグロヅルJapanese
- თეთრი წეროGeorgian
- КърухужьKabardian
- АқтырнаKazakh
- 시베리아흰두루미Korean
- sibirinė gervėLithuanian
- baltā dzērveLatvian
- सायबेरियाई क्रौंचMarathi
- Hakʼaz dééłNavajo
- Siberische Witte KraanvogelDutch
- snøtraneNorwegian
- żuraw białyPolish
- سائیبیری کونجWestern Panjabi
- grou-siberianoPortuguese
- СтерхRussian
- белый журавльRussian
- КыталыкYakut
- MuohtaguorgaNorthern Sami
- žeriav bielySlovak
- snežni žerjavSlovenian
- سائبيريائي ٻگھوSindhi
- Sibirski ždralSerbian
- snötranaSwedish
- சைபீரிய கொக்குTamil
- Ак торнаTatar
- Ak durnaTurkmen
- Ak TurnaTurkish
- Білий журавельUkrainian
- журавель білийUkrainian
- Sếu SiberiaVietnamese
- 白鶴Chinese
- 白鶴〔西伯利亞鶴〕Chinese
- 白鹤Chinese
- 西伯利亞白鶴Chinese
Relatives of the siberian crane
Other species in the same family Gruidae.
Common crane
Grus grus
Black crowned crane
Balearica pavonina
Grey crowned crane
Balearica regulorum
Red-crowned crane
Grus japonensis
Sarus crane
Antigone antigone
Black-necked crane
Grus nigricollis
CompareSiberian crane vs Common craneSiberian crane vs Black crowned craneSiberian crane vs Grey crowned craneSiberian crane vs Red-crowned crane
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
Is the siberian crane endangered?
Yes. The IUCN Red List classifies the siberian crane as Critically Endangered, a threatened category, in its global assessment.
How big is the siberian crane?
The siberian crane is a medium-sized bird with a representative adult body mass of 5.9 kg and a wingspan of 2.35 m, ranging from 2.1 to 2.6 m.
What does the siberian crane eat?
The siberian crane is an omnivore.
What habitat does the siberian crane live in?
The siberian crane lives in wetland habitats and has a terrestrial foraging lifestyle. It is migratory.
How long does the siberian crane live?
Sources give the siberian crane a lifespan of 36.2 years, with values up to 39.4 years.
How many eggs does the siberian crane lay?
The siberian crane lays 2 eggs per clutch and has one clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 29 days.
What kind of animal is the siberian crane?
The siberian crane is a bird of the family Gruidae, subfamily Gruinae, in the order Gruiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/siberian-crane
“Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/siberian-crane.
@misc{siberian_crane_2026,
title = {Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/siberian-crane},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}