Nature vs. Nurture

The following link found by my friend points out the importance of parenting skills in the crane's survival:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-whooping-crane-migration-20160124-story.html

Can nurture overpower nature in just 15 years?  

What about the effect of inbreeding?

What about environmental factors like contaminated food, soil, water, and air, GMO, magnetic disturbance, and climate change?  It's not only the crane that is dying off.  

Operation Migration

What a heartwarming and exciting story I just heard on the NPR/PBS radio on my way home from work!  A small aircraft teaching the Whooping Crane that grew up in captivity/sanctuary how to migrate?

To see how a chick learns to forage and ... eventually fly in a flock following an aircraft, please go to the following link and click on the "Watch video" link on the homepage:

http://operationmigration.org/#

Their migration with human intervention is a success story.  However, their breeding has not been, and as a result, the cranes remain near extinction, according to the NPR news story.  The exact cause is unknown. And probably because of that, the operation has been discontinued.

Still a fascinating story.