大象传媒

Day 21, angel wing is developing in one of the young birds at Slimbridge, this is a condition where the birds feathers grow too quickly, and the weight of the feathers can't be supported by the bird鈥檚 wing muscles. This causes the wings to droop down, and if not corrected the bird will develop permanent damage and wings that look like those of an angel. At crane school the problem is fixed easily by taping up the wing, reducing the protein content of the diet and plenty of extra exercise. Day 28 - its pouring with rain, and the young birds are getting very wet. Although they are water birds and should be used to the rain, these birds still have down and not true feathers, so if they get too wet they may catch pneumonia. Staying indoors for long periods isn't good news for them either though. as they need as much exercise as they can get, and walking around on hard surfaces for too long will begin to damage their feet. Day 31 - every day begins at 7am when the school register is taken, checking all the birds are doing ok. Then it's straight into the playground for some caretaker duties before, at 8am the birds are allowed into the playground to stretch their wings and start searching for food. The birds seem to be loving it and are growing over half an inch every day.