Pandas - Magic Tree House

Whooping It Up
Scientists at the Patuxent Wildlife Research
Center in Maryland are working to save
whooping cranes. These big white birds are
one of the most endangered kinds of crane
in the world.
The scientists don’t want the chicks they
raise to get too used to people. To prepare
the birds for life in the wild, workers wear
long white robes and hoods. Whenever the
workers feed the chicks or take them for a
swim, they lead them around with a puppet
on a stick that looks like a crane’s head.
When the chicks are ready to fly,
ultralight aircraft with pilots also dressed
in robes guide the young cranes on their
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