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GLOSSARY
Crane (tancho)
The tancho is a bird of the crane family (Grus japonensis). It is the largest and most beautiful of Japanese cranes, having a wingspan of 66cm and an olive-coloured beak 15-17cm long. It weighs up to 10kg. The body feathers are white and the crown of the head is bare and red. Part of the neck, the secondary and tertiary wing feathers are black. The tancho breeds in marshlands from Southern Siberia to Hokkaido and migrates in winter to China and Korea.Formerly, the birds visited many areas of Japan but nowadays they are seen only in Miyagi, Shiga, Nagasaki and Kagoshima Prefectures. In 1952, in Kushiro, Hokkaido, starving tancho were hand-fed and since that time their numbers have increased. In 1967, when the tancho was designated as a special natural monument, 200 birds were counted through-out Japan.