Newborn Female White-Naped Crane Is One Cute Chick

Think your kids are awesome? Think you're awesome? Talk to the white-naped crane that was just born at the Smithsonian National Zoo. As We Love DC notes, the Zoo is calling this little chickee "the most genetically important hatchling in the North American White-Naped Crane Species Survival Program." Boo-ya. An endangered species now, owing to the destruction of wetlands in northeast China -- this bird's native habitat -- the birth of a female white-naped crane in captivity is a major boon to efforts to keep this animal's gene pool strong and diverse.

DCist has covered species survival plans at the National Zoo for golden lion tamarins and gorillas and, suffice it to say, mate pairings can be difficult work. In fact, a plan to couple a 20-year-old female white-naped crane with a stud failed when the female failed to perform the "dancing, unison calling, stick tossing and other rituals" that give the male a hint. (The male subsequently beat her up, which is natural behavior only in Nature.)

Fox 5 reports that a keeper was able to earn the female's trust and artificially inseminate her. Although the latest birth (in what seems to be a fertile year for the zoo) doesn't come with the sweetest family backstory, it's a real accomplishment for the Zoo's Conservation and Research Center that offers hope for more births in the future.