The wetlands of Chaldoran County in West Azarbaijan Province are now home to a species of crane known as Anatolian Crane. According to Omid Yousefi, director of wildlife office at the provincial Department of Environment, six rare cranes have been sighted in Kandi and Navar Chaldoran marshes in the county, during an extensive survey carried out in the region by Turkey as part of Doga Crane Conservation Program, Mehr News Agency reported. "The survey which has simultaneously covered potential habitats in Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and Iran, was the first of its kind and resulted in complementary data about the unique subspecies," Yousefi said. There are less than 100 pairs of the Anatolian Crane around the world; however, it cannot be listed as endangered, for it is a subcategory of a bigger family. "To absorb the International Union for Conservation of Nature's support for the rare species, the birds should be listed under a separate entry in the union's list of wild species," the official explained. Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds, dividing into different types including Common, Siberian, Wattled, Gray-Crowned and Anatolian groups.
