A Crane with a Crush

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

African American History And Culture, Tony Cohn, Natural History, Air And Space, Society & Culture, Art19, Smithsonian, Science, Sidedoor, History Of The World, The Smithsonian, Pop Culture, Zoo, Dc, National Museum, Exhibit, History, National Zoo, American History, Exhibits, Postal Museum, Washington, Museum

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2018

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris Crowe, an animal keeper for the Smithsonian, has an unlikely bond with Walnut, a female white-naped crane. Despite their obvious differences, she chose him as her mate. For Crowe, their relationship has high stakes: it impacts the future of an entire species. Venture with Sidedoor to the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute to meet this unconventional couple, and find out how their connection could be key to white-naped crane survival.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Side Door, a podcast from a Smithsonian with support from PRX.
0:13.6	I'm Tony Cohen.
0:16.2	A few weeks ago, Side Door producer Rachel Arinoff and I hopped in a grungy little Hyundai rental to drive 70 miles outside of Washington, D.C.
0:28.0	Our destination, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, also known as SCBI. It's a guarded compound
0:35.5	in Front Royal, Virginia that the public doesn't normally get to see.
0:38.9	Do you think the people in Front Royal in this area know what goes on here.
0:42.6	I hope that.
0:43.6	Yeah, I don't have any idea.
0:45.6	That's our guide, Chris Crow.
0:48.0	Beyond the gated entrance lies the SCBI campus.
0:51.5	There are some offices, staff housing, a cafeteria, and it's surrounded by
0:55.0	hundreds of acres of rolling hills and forests. It reminds me of a small
0:59.2	college campus in the middle of nowhere, except there are no students or people wandering around.
1:04.4	It's actually a little eerie, but we later learned that the real action was happening just
1:09.3	out of view.
1:10.8	In addition to knowing his way around SCBI, Chris Crow is a birdkeeper here.
1:15.0	And yes, Crow really is his last name.
1:18.0	He met us by the parking lot and brought us into his world. Oh, yeah, my gosh.
1:24.0	Is it Guam rail?
1:26.0	Guam rail.
1:27.0	A brown bird native to Guam.
1:29.0	He's about the size of a pigeon, but unlike a pigeon, he's flightless.
	...

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