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The Nonessential Whooping Crane

10,000 Birds

So, one might surmise, it’s OK if they get shot by hunters thinking they’re sandhill cranes? Another 170 are in captivity, many of them breeding stock for reintroduction efforts. And whooping cranes in bad light, say dawn and dusk, when hunters are most likely to be out after sandhills, can look startlingly dark.

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