Contamination Status of Seven Elements in Hooded Cranes Wintering in South-West Kyushu, Japan: Comparison with Red-Crowned Cranes in Hokkaido, Japan

The hooded crane is designated as an endangered species. The cranes breed primarily in wetlands in southeast Russia and China in summer. Most of the hooded crane population winters in the Izumi plain in Japan. It is difficult to know the contamination status of their habitat because of their vast breeding area. We determined the levels of Cd, Pb, As, (total) Hg, Se, Zn, and Cu in the liver, kidney, and muscle of hooded cranes that were found dead in Izumi in the periods 2003–2006 and 2014–2015 compared with the levels in red-crowned cranes in Hokkaido, Japan, as the only cranes in which these elements had been studied extensively. There were no notable differences between levels of the seven elements in the two periods. Overall, tissue levels of the elements examined in hooded cranes were comparable to those in red-crowned cranes except for Hg and Se. Tissue levels of Hg and Se were clearly lower in hooded cranes than in red-crowned cranes that were found dead from 2000. One lead poisoning case was confirmed. The results suggest that Hooded cranes wintering in Izumi are not extensively contaminated with the seven elements examined.