Bern­hard Wess­ling: The Call of the Cranes

Cra­nes are enig­ma­tic birds. Only very litt­le is known about the beha­viour of the­se graceful dancers. The renow­ned natu­ra­list and cra­ne expert Bern­hard Wess­ling takes us on exci­ting and adven­tur­ous expe­di­ti­ons into their hid­den world and gets to the bot­tom of the myths sur­roun­ding the­se birds of hap­pi­ness. With the help of a spe­ci­al­ly deve­lo­ped bio­a­cou­stic method, Dr. Wess­ling stu­di­ed Eura­si­an, Red-Crow­ned, Sandhill and Who­o­ping Cra­nes, all in the wild. He has rese­ar­ched their intel­li­gence, social dyna­mics and com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on and enga­ged in their pro­tec­tion. Impres­si­ve­ly illus­tra­ted and lively nar­ra­ted, this book pres­ents his fin­dings on their indi­vi­du­al­ly uni­que lives and rela­ti­onships, their abili­ty to adapt and sol­ve pro­blems, and their emo­ti­ons. His obser­va­tions allow us to del­ve deep­ly into the cra­nes' way of life and con­scious­ness, often demons­t­ra­ting the sur­pri­sing simi­la­ri­ties bet­ween humans and ani­mals. An ama­zing work about the spi­rit of dis­co­very, humi­li­ty and respect for natu­re in the tra­di­ti­on of Alex­an­der von Humboldt.