赤颈鹤（Grus antigone）是全年生活在巴基斯坦及印度北部、尼泊尔、东南亚及澳洲昆士兰的鸟类。牠们是非常大的鹤，平均长1.5米，生活在淡水沼泽及平原。

成年赤颈鹤的身体呈灰色，红色的头没有羽毛，头上有白冠及尖长的喙。飞行时，牠们会伸直长颈，并且可以看到黑色的翼端，红色或粉红色的脚则在其后。雄性及雌性赤颈鹤的颜色没有分别，但雏鸟则较深沉及褐色。一般来说雄鸟都较雌鸟大。印度赤颈鹤可以高达2米，双翼展开阔2.5米，故牠们是世界上最大的可飞鸟类。牠们平均重7.3公斤，较丹顶鹤轻。

在澳洲，赤颈鹤很易与澳洲鹤混淆。澳洲鹤在澳洲分布较广，而只有头上有红色。

The sarus crane (Grus antigone) is a large non-migratory crane found in parts of the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. The tallest of the flying birds, standing at a height of up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in), they are conspicuous and iconic species of open wetlands. The sarus crane is easily distinguished from other cranes in the region by the overall grey colour and the contrasting red head and upper neck. They forage on marshes and shallow wetlands for roots, tubers, insects, crustaceans and small vertebrate prey. Like other cranes, they form long-lasting pair-bonds and maintain territories within which they perform territorial and courtship displays that include loud trumpeting, leaps and dance-like movements. In India they are considered symbols of marital fidelity, believed to mate for life and pine the loss of their mates even to the point of starving to death. The main breeding season is during the rainy season, when the pair builds an enormous nest "island", a circular platform of reeds and grasses nearly two metres in diameter and high enough to stay above the shallow water surrounding it. Sarus crane numbers have declined greatly in the last century and it has been estimated that the current population is a tenth or less (perhaps 2.5%) of the numbers that existed in the 1850s. The stronghold of the species is in India, where it is traditionally revered and lives in agricultural lands in close proximity to humans. Elsewhere, the species has been extirpated in many parts of its former range.