The master puppeteer who is helping to save rare bird from extinction

Published on Wednesday 22 July 2009 21:58

GIANT hand puppets are being used to rear chicks – to try to save one of the world's rarest birds from extinction.

Only 235 wattled cranes remain in the wild and Mike Jordan, an expert at the Scottish conservation firm Atmos Consulting, has volunteered to help boost their numbers in South Africa.

He has created hand puppets with features of adult birds, which are used to feed the chicks. The birds, which can grow up to 6ft tall, often lay two eggs but always abandon the second one. The puppets enable conservationists to rear chicks from the abandoned eggs.

Mr Jordan said using puppets made sure the chicks did not get "imprinted" by humans.

"Young birds are very impressionable and, due to their intelligence, wattled cranes are even more at risk of imprinting, which is when they adopt the behaviour of the first animal they come into contact with," he said. "By using hand puppets to rear the chicks, and later using full-length costumes with wattled crane markings, we ensure that the birds know that they are cranes.

"Once they are released into the wild, they will respond to other cranes and will not associate humans with either food or security."

Mr Jordan has trained conservation workers in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Later this year, he will go to Bhutan to help giant squirrels.