From the story of the Ugly Duckling:
How did the swan egg end up in the middle of a duck's nest? Especially without the Mama Duck knowing it had been added? Wouldn't she have realized that there was an extra egg in her nest? And hadn't she ever seen a baby swan before to know that it wasn't really a duckling?
2 comments:
amen to all that! I've wondered those very same things. Especially when in all the pictures the swan egg looks HUGE compared to the other eggs, and its a different color and shape. I guess they're a different species, but if you saw an aligator in your incubator wouldn't you IMMEDIATELY start asking the hospital some questions? hee hee, loved the post.
Do you want a biological answer? If not, no need to read this comment!
If so, read on! : ) There are birds that have other tactics for raising children. Cowbirds, for example, are parasitic birds because they lay eggs in others' nests (they spy them out and lay them when the parents are gone getting food) and sneak their egg(s) in. The now adoptive parents don't notice the major differences and raise the bird as their own. In real life, a lot of times the cowbird egg hatches first and then pushes the others out of the nest, but that is sad. So that may be the case for the swan.
Or it could be like the penguins, where if they lose an egg, they try to steal someone else's egg.
None of these are as magical as the story, though!
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