Forty-three microsatellite loci originally isolated in Grus americana and G. japonensis were tested for polymorphism in the blue crane (G. paradisea). Amplified products were sequenced in the blue crane to aid in the design of blue crane-specific primers. When characterized in 20 unrelated blue crane individuals from South Africa, 14 loci were polymorphic, with each locus displaying between 2 and 7 alleles. Eight polymorphic loci were characterized in the grey-crowned crane (Balearica regulorum) and ten in the wattled crane (G. carunculatus).
