Expert: Roger Lederer - 10/20/2008

Question
Hey roger, can you tell me the major effect of humans on the sarus cranes in
asia? I meant what are the major reasons for the decrease in their numbers??

Answer
There were about 20.000 mature Sarus Cranes left in the wild in 2006 . The Indian population is less than 10,000 birds; it used to be found on occasion in Pakistan, but not anymore since the late 1980s, and it appears to be decreasing altogether. While the Australian population is higher than 5,000 birds and may be increasing, the Southeast Asian subspecies has been decimated by war and habitat modification and destruction (such as intensive agriculture and draining of wetlands) and by the mid-20th century had disappeared from large parts of its range which once stretched up to southern China; some 1500–2000 birds are left in several fragmented subpopulations . The little-known Philippine population is completely extinct since the late 1960s.

As a species, the Sarus crane is classified as Vulnerable. This means that the global population has declined by about a third since 1980, and is expected to continue to do so until the late 2010s. Threats constitute habitat destruction and/or degradation, hunting and collecting, as well as environmental pollution and possibly diseases or competing species.

The species has been extirpated in Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.