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Last lesson

As the crane school term ends, there鈥檚 one vital lesson left to learn.

Day 34 at Crane School finds the youngsters in their dormitory. Inside they are safe from predators, such as foxes and rats, but they also have to be kept isolated as the birds don't get on and fight each other regularly. Over the coming days the team need to start exercising the birds together so that they become more sociable with one another so that they can form a group or flock by the time that they fledge. On day 42, things are starting to improve, the birds are less reliant on the dinner ladies for food, and are finding food for themselves by digging around in the wetland area. This self feeding also means they aren't fighting as much, so their bad behaviour is finally coming under control. One final lesson for the birds to learn is how to recognise and escape from predators. At Slimbridge they use a specially trained dog that looks a lot like a fox, playing an adult alarm call and getting the dinnerladies to run away from the danger. All helps to makes sure the young birds learn the crucial lesson - as foxes are the common crane鈥檚 main predator. The birds run away from the danger, which is just the response the keepers were looking for. Graduation from crane school may be just around the corner.

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