Blunt-force trauma was apparent on the body of a rare whooping crane found last month near Almont.

The National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., confirmed the injury after the endangered bird was sent there for analysis.

The trauma probably was caused from striking the ground, said Ken Torkelson, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck.

"The investigation has been terminated," he added.

An identification band on the dead whooper's leg showed that it hatched and was banded in 1983, making it 23 years old. Whooping cranes in the wild typically can live into their 20s.

The whooping crane was among the flock of 237 endangered birds migrating to Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada from Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

- Richard Hinton