Why is the red-crowned crane regarded as an auspicious thing since ancient times and gained the reputation of 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 an ordinary member of many birds. Why do people give it so many beautiful meanings? Let's meet the red-crowned crane.

The sage-like "one-needle bird", the red-crowned crane, is a kind of crane, which is mainly distributed in northeast China and eastern Mongolia, the 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 phoenix among birds. From the appearance, the red-crowned crane is really beautiful and worthy of the name. People call it "crane".

The young birds of the red-crowned crane are also beautiful. Their heads and necks are brown, but the red on their heads hasn't turned red yet. Their mouths and legs are flesh red, and their feathers are very beautiful. Their feathers are yellowish brown, their bellies are darker, their backs are lighter, and their shoulders are milky white. After 3 ~ 4 months, the body feathers of young birds gradually turn clean white, and after 10 months, the top of the head appears red. Young birds form early, stumble at birth, and move with their parents after 4-5 days. However, due to the large size of the red-crowned crane, it takes 3-5 years for young birds to breed the next generation.

Red-crowned cranes are good at flying, with a speed of about 40 kilometers per hour and a flying height of over 5,400 meters. The skeleton of red-crowned crane adapts to the characteristics of flight, and its strength is 7 times that of human skeleton. During large-scale migration, they are in groups, often cleverly arranged in a wedge shape, and the red-crowned cranes arranged in the back can make use of the airflow generated by the flapping wings of their front companions to make their flight fast, labor-saving and lasting. During the flight, they look relaxed and can sing while flying.

"God of Wetlands" is a warm crane family. Red-crowned cranes inhabit lakes, swamps, river bank swamps, reed fields, open plains, grasslands and beaches, and sometimes farmland and cultivated land. They are large wading birds and like to live in shallow water. Their main food is fish, shrimp, tadpoles, clams, snails, worms, aquatic insects, mollusks and so on. Therefore, people often call it "the God of Wetlands". ? It can be seen that the living environment of the red-crowned crane is beautiful and clean, and the diet is also very light.

Red-crowned cranes are also very emotional and have a strong sense of family. They often work in pairs to form families and groups. In the migration season and winter, they are often gathered by several or dozens of families to form a very large group. Sometimes a large group consists of 40 ~ 50 or even more than 100 red-crowned cranes. But when they are active in a certain area, they are still scattered into small groups or family groups. At night, most of them inhabit shallows surrounded by water or reed ponds. When they inhabit, they also live in groups as families. When the weather is particularly cold, they will get very close.