[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he whooping crane came perilously close to going extinct in 1941, when there were only 15 of the birds left.  Fortunately, things have improved since then and today some 350 birds are found in the wild.

The birds will remain endangered until there are about 1,000 individual birds or at least 250 reproductive pairs, so there remains much room for improvement.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the lower Texas coast is home to the whooping crane.  Founded in 1937, this refuge ...