CreatureData

Whooping crane

Grus americana (Linnaeus, 1758)

ENEndangeredbirds

The whooping crane (Grus americana) is a species in the family Gruidae, order Gruiformes. Recorded adults weigh 5.83 kg to 7.5 kg and live up to 30 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Endangered.

Whooping crane (Grus americana)
Photo: Sasata · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the whooping crane

Weight
5.83 kg – 7.5 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
2 m – 2.3 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
30 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Omnivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
40 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
31.8 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
4 years – 4.49 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
Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the whooping crane?

WHOOPING CRANE · WINGSPAN 2.3 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 2.3 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the whooping crane is about 1.4 times the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the whooping crane live?

Not recorded

What is the whooping crane?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The whooping crane (Grus americana) is an endangered crane species, native to North America, named for its "whooping" calls. Along with the sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis), it is one of only two crane species native to North America, and it is also the tallest North American bird species, with an estimated 22–30+ year life expectancy in the wild. After being pushed to the brink of extinction by unregulated hunting and loss of habitat that left just 21 wild (and two captive) cranes by 1941, the whooping crane made a partial recovery through conservation efforts. The total number of cranes in the surviving migratory population, plus three reintroduced flocks and in-captivity, is just over 830 birds as of 2025. This includes about 560 individuals in the remnant population that migrates between coastal Texas, US, and the Northwest Territories, Canada, which is termed the "Aransas-Wood Buffalo Population" after the protected areas that anchor the population's wintering and breeding ranges, respectively. Additionally, there are about 140 individuals in two reintroduced populations breeding in Wisconsin and Louisiana, US, and an additional 130 individuals in captivity.

From the Wikipedia article “Whooping crane” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whooping_crane&oldid=1380782589), 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 whooping crane endangered?

The whooping crane is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species.

How is the whooping crane classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderGruiformes
  5. familyGruidae
  6. genusGrus
  7. SpeciesGrus americana (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Ardea americana, Grus clamator, Grus hoyianus, Grus struthio

Other names and names in other languages (55)
  • Hooping craneEnglish
  • WoksipaaliAlabama
  • كركي صياحArabic
  • كركي أمريكيArabic
  • Американски жеравBulgarian
  • Garan AmerikaBreton
  • grua cridaneraCatalan
  • Grua cridanera americanaCatalan
  • ᎧᎾᏍᎦᏫCherokee
  • jeřáb americkýCzech
  • garan ubanolWelsh
  • TrompetértraneDanish
  • SchneekranichGerman
  • SchreikranichGerman
  • amerika gruoEsperanto
  • Grulla blancaSpanish
  • Grulla AmericanaSpanish
  • Grulla GritonaSpanish
  • Grulla trompeteraSpanish
  • trompetkurgEstonian
  • Amerikar kurriloBasque
  • trumpettikurkiFinnish
  • Grue blancheFrench
  • TrompetkraanWestern Frisian
  • Grús MeiriceánachIrish
  • Groose AmericaanaghManx
  • עגור אמריקאיHebrew
  • bijeli ždralCroatian
  • lármás daruHungarian
  • Gru americanaItalian
  • アメリカシロヅルJapanese
  • 미국흰두루미Korean
  • amerikinė gervėLithuanian
  • Amerikas dzērveLatvian
  • Америк тогорууMongolian
  • Tóniłhę́ęshiiNavajo
  • trompetertraneNorwegian Bokmål
  • trompetkraanvogelDutch
  • trompettraneNorwegian
  • żuraw krzykliwyPolish
  • grou-americanoPortuguese
  • grou-trombeteiroPortuguese
  • grou-trompeteiroPortuguese
  • Американский журавльRussian
  • žeriav škriekavýSlovak
  • Beli ždralSerbian
  • trumpetartranaSwedish
  • นกกระเรียนกู่Thai
  • Ötücü TurnaTurkish
  • Haykıran turnaTurkish
  • Американський журавельUkrainian
  • журавель американськийUkrainian
  • Sếu MỹVietnamese
  • 美洲鶴Chinese
  • 美洲鹤Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the whooping crane

Other species in the same genus Grus.

CompareWhooping crane vs Common craneWhooping crane vs Red-crowned craneWhooping crane vs Black-necked craneWhooping crane vs Hooded crane

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the whooping crane?

An adult whooping crane weighs 5.83 kg – 7.5 kg and has a wingspan of 2 m – 2.3 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the whooping crane endangered?

The whooping crane is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

How long does the whooping crane live?

The whooping crane has a recorded lifespan of 30 years.

What kind of animal is the whooping crane?

The whooping crane (Grus americana) belongs to the family Gruidae in the order Gruiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Whooping crane (Grus americana). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/whooping-crane

MLA

“Whooping crane (Grus americana).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/whooping-crane.

BibTeX
@misc{whooping_crane_2026,
  title = {Whooping crane (Grus americana)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/whooping-crane},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}