Actuallythis is an important question. I have been studying cranes for quite a while now for an upcoming David Attenborough series and I can reveal as a B3TA exclusive that cranes have a complicated life cycle. There are three main stages, a small insectlike man-eating larval stage, a medium-sized birdlike stage for dispersal and a large more or less sessile creature. The largest lifestage doesn't appear to eat but appears to generate the neccesary food supplies for the larval stage.
This lifecycle is mapped out below:
(This lifecycle is mapped out below:
Harold,
Mon 5 Nov 2001, 1:17,
archived)