Why is the red-crowned crane called "crane"

In China, among the people, the red-crowned crane has always been regarded as a fairy, known as the "crane", which means immortality. According to ancient legends in China, people who have attained the Tao are often accompanied by cranes. Immortals often use cranes as their own horses and ride cranes to cruise the celestial world. In the traditional culture of China, cranes symbolize longevity, elegance, auspiciousness and loyalty.

Red-crowned crane is a kind of crane, mainly distributed in northeast China and eastern Mongolia, east bank of Ussuri River in Russia, North Korea, South Korea and Hokkaido in Japan. Red-crowned crane is large, with a body length of 120 ~ 160 cm. It is famous for its long mouth, long neck and long legs. Its body is mostly white, its head is hairless and its color is bright red, hence its name.

Red-crowned cranes are graceful and brightly colored. When standing, it can reach 1 meter high or above. The feathers on the neck, feet and tail are black, the top of the head is red, and the rest are white. When flying, only the neck, feet, secondary and tertiary flight feathers are black, and the rest are white.

The red-crowned crane has a beautiful shape and elegant temperament. Whether flying or standing, it looks like a sage like type. People call it a "first-class bird", second only to the phoenix among birds. From the appearance, the red-crowned crane is really beautiful and worthy of the name. People call it "crane".

Red-crowned crane is not the longest-lived bird.

People often draw elegant and beautiful cranes with vigorous and tall pine trees, and make a picture of "pine cranes prolonging life", which means benefiting the year and prolonging life. In fact, this is not consistent with the scene in life, because although pine trees have been scientifically proved to be longevity trees, it is impossible for red-crowned cranes to climb high mountains and accompany pine trees because they live in wetlands and beaches surrounded by water.

In addition, the life span of wild red-crowned cranes is not 50-60 years, but 20-30 years. Although the life span of captive red-crowned cranes may be longer, and individual Siberian cranes can live to be over 60 years old, the life span of red-crowned cranes is not the longest among birds.

According to Guinness World Records, many vultures can live for more than 70 years. It is said that an Amazon green parrot once reached 104 years old.

The above content refers to Xinhuanet-Why is the red-crowned crane called "Crane"?