Balearica
Genus of birds / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the Roman province, see Hispania Balearica.
The bird genus Balearica (also called the crowned cranes or Balearic cranes) contains two extant species in the crane family Gruidae: the black crowned crane (B. pavonina) and the grey crowned crane (B. regulorum).[2]
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Quick Facts Balearica, Scientific classification ...
Balearica | |
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Grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Gruiformes |
Family: | Gruidae |
Subfamily: | Balearicinae |
Genus: | Balearica Brisson, 1760 |
Type species | |
Ardea pavonina[1] Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
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The species today occur only in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, and are the only cranes that can nest in trees. This habitat is one reason the relatively small Balearica cranes are believed to closely resemble the ancestral members of the Gruidae.
Like all cranes, they eat insects, reptiles, and small mammals.