Forget little green pigs – this is how birds get really angry.
With their own version of the Chinese martial art Wing Chun, these two Eurasian cranes show they’re more than ready for their release into the wild next month.
Unleashing kung-fu skills to rival Bruce Lee, one of the creatures rears its head and wings and launches a perfect kick at the other from mid air.
Keepers say the two youngsters were just showing off in front of each other at the Great Crane Project at Crane School in Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.
They will be released next month onto the Somerset Moors and Levels.
The animals are taught how to forage and avoid danger by human carers, who wear disguises to prevent the cranes from becoming tame.
WWT aviculturist Amy King said: ‘We are surrogate parents to the birds and try to teach them all they need to survive, but some things they just pick up on their own.
‘Here the young cranes are sparring, as many young animals do. It looks dramatic but for now it is just practice.
‘Once in the wild, they’ll use these skills to determine their place in the pecking order and, if they need, to battle potential predators.’
RSPB Great Crane Project Manager Damon Bridge said: “It’ll be great to get this year’s youngsters down here to join the other cranes.
‘They’ll soon learn the ropes with the help of the more street wise older birds and with the support of our local farmers there’s plenty of wild food for them to get stuck into.’
Cranes were once a widespread and culturally significant part of British wildlife and many villages – such as Cranford in Middlesex or Cranmore in Somerset – take their names from the birds.
But by 400 years ago, they had gone extinct as a breeding bird because of the drainage of wetlands and over hunting.
The Great Crane Project is a partnership between the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, RSPB and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust.
It has major funding from Viridor Credits Environmental Company, which is reintroducing birds to the Somerset Moors and Levels.
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