Friends who watch us push every day must know the protagonist of today's article. Yes, it is the one whose name is difficult to write and difficult to pronounce--crested.
The beautiful spring has arrived, and I give you a task: when you go to the riverside, if someone points to the duck (pì tī), you can take the opportunity to recommend our public number to the ta.
If you don't talk about crests, it's actually easy to recognize — it's more slender and slender than a duck, with two clusters of slightly upturned crowns on its head. That's why it's called "crest".
However, today I am not going to teach you to identify various kinds of 䴙䴘, but I want to talk about the courtship and parenting strategies of crested crests, which is quite strange, continue to look down ~
Crested
Image courtesy of: wiki
01
In the budding period of love, aquatic grass is sent to you
Crested crests are uncompromising water birds that spend most of their lives foraging, resting, courting, and brooding in the water. Only in the rare event is there a chance to witness the crested flying or waddling on land.
The duck is clumsy enough to walk, and the crest is even more exaggerated—because the physiology is so close to the back of the legs that it can barely move on land.
Look at this jio, flat and very backward
In the water, the crest is quite flexible. Its soles are extremely flat, and its toes have evolved into petal-like shapes, called "petal webs", which can provide good power in the water, like a propeller.
Its feathers are also unusual, dense and waterproof, and can be adjusted at will – allowing water to dip into the feathers when needed, thereby adjusting its buoyancy and making it easy to dive for food.
I kick ~~
The "courtship ceremony" of the crested mane is also performed on the water. Courtship dances are elegant but complex, sometimes facing each other head-on, imitating each other's movements; sometimes picking up a lump of water grass to offer to each other; sometimes fluttering and rushing on the water.
Courtship sessions Give each other water weeds
Image courtesy of Luontoportti
The crested nest is also on the water.
They use materials such as aquatic weeds and leaves to build floating nests, and the fermentation of aquatic weed leaves can generate heat and assist in the hatching of bird eggs, so it is also possible for crested parents to occasionally desert and suspend egg incubation!
The crested nest can float up as the water level rises and does not sink to the bottom
02
The baby was just born, and the parents were frantically foraging for food
Crested mane has a "hobby" that you would never expect – loves to eat feathers. They will pluck out their feathers and swallow them in one gulp.
It's a fierce bird, and I can't bear to brush my few hairs.
Not only do adult crested babies often eat feathers, but on the first day of the baby's birth, parents will feed it feathers, and then feed small fish and shrimp. Some ornithologists have speculated that swallowing feathers may be to protect the stomach. The fish and shrimp eaten by the fish and shrimp often have fish spines or hard shells, which are easy to scratch the esophagus and stomach, and the feathers eaten can wrap the fish bones and reduce the damage.
There is also another speculation that freshwater fish and shrimp often have parasites, and swallowing feathers can help the body expel parasites. Fortunately, it grows new feathers all year round, otherwise it would have to go bald...
The baby is feeding the feathers
Image courtesy of birds of Denmark
Babies are considered to be early adult birds, wearing down feathers as soon as they break their shells, and they can swim. However, due to physical strength or thermal insulation, the baby is not willing to soak in the water for a long time, at this time, the parents will let it lie on their own body and swim around with it.
When babies are young, they have a bare skin on their forehead, which is pink. When they are too hungry to bear it, or in an emergency, their bare skin becomes redder from congestion. Once the parents find out which child has a "red light" on his head, they will give it food first, comforting and protecting it.
Baby: Mommy and Daddy, I'm at a red light! Leave me alone!
Image courtesy of oiseaux.net
When the baby grows older and the appetite increases greatly, the parents begin to dive frequently to forage for food. Once, when I was at the lake, I did not strictly count the feeding frequency of my parents: on average, I would catch small fish and shrimp every two minutes to feed, and the feeding would last for several hours, sometimes from morning to evening. According to statistics, parents have to catch an average of more than 20,000 small fish during child-rearing in order for babies to pull and raise.
Parents fail to forage, and sometimes they are "attacked" by their babies, and hungry young birds will even bite their parents' feathers. Of course, parents will also deliberately slap the splash to prevent the babies from approaching the urging.
It seems that bear children are not limited to species.
03
When the baby grows up, his parents are separated
When the baby grows up a little more, The parents sometimes enter a strange phase of separation. The birds divide their four children equally, raise two each, and divide the foraging area.
Their separation is quite strict, not far from each other, but they are not allowed to cross the line, otherwise they will be furious, the sword will be raging, and the previous love will be gone.
Parents will also start to be eccentric, choosing between the pampered and the snubbed among their two children. Feed the pampered child first, and then give the rest to the snubbed child. And the baby distributed to the spouse simply ignores the question.
Baby's reaction after knowing the truth be like
Some ornithologists have speculated that this quirky parenting measure was caused by food shortages. Through the measure of dividing children equally, parents should not be lazy, and the responsibilities of childcare are more clear.
Eccentric feeding ensures that at least one child receives adequate food, increasing their chances of survival.
Eat slowly and don't choke...
See watermark for image source
But there's good news!
Once the baby grows up and leaves his parents to wander the world, the crested couple will be reconciled as ever, and they will dance affectionately and lovingly again, returning to their original sweetness.
END