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| Cranes | ||||||||||
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 Sarus Crane | ||||||||||
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Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds of the order Gruiformes, and family Gruidae. Unlike the similar-looning but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays or "dances".
They eat suitably sized prey such as amphibians.
There are representatives of this group on most continents.
The relationships with other members of the same order are shown below;
Gruiformes
A crane is the Egyptian heiroglyphic symbol for the letter "B." Also, the word "pedigree" comes from the Old French phrase, "pie de grue", which means "foot of a crane", as the pedigree diagram looks similar to the branches coming out of a crane's foot. The historical Aztec people of South America get their name from cranes. Aztecs are people from the region Aztlan which literally means "near the cranes" (azta cranes, tlan near).
A crane is considered auspicious in Japan. Japan has named on of their satellites tzuru (crane, the bird). If one folds 1000 origami cranes, according to tradition, one's wish for health will be granted. Since the death of Sadako Sasaki this applies to a wish for peace as well.