Subfamily Balearicinae Higher classification Crane | Phylum Chordata Family Gruidae Scientific name Balearica Rank Genus | |
 | ||
Mass Grey crowned crane: 3.5 kg Lower classifications Grey crowned crane, Black crowned crane | ||
The bird genus Balearica (also called the crowned cranes) contains two extant species in the crane family Gruidae: the black crowned crane (B. pavonina) and the grey crowned crane (B. regulorum).
Contents
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.
Grey necked crowned crane balearica regulorum
Taxonomy
The crane family (Gruidae) is divided into the subfamily Gruinae of typical cranes and the subfamily Balearicinae of crowned cranes.
Fossil record
Crowned cranes seem to have been more widespread prehistorically. Compared to the true cranes, genus Grus, which were always common in the Holarctic and adjacent regions, the present genus appears to have had a more Atlantic distribution, ranging into Europe and North America; it is not known from the fossil record of Asia.
