Male Emu Surprises Everyone By Incubating Eggs And Hatching Chicks

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One of the most amazing things that we may have the opportunity to see in life is the birth of a child. It doesn’t matter if it is a human baby or the birth of an animal, it really makes us feel small when we see it happening first-hand.

Nobody knows this better than Foxfeather Zenkova, who rehabilitates wildlife. They have the opportunity to see this happening often, but recently, it happened in an unexpected way when a male emu was able to hatch six chicks.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is the fact that the male emu was incubating eggs from different species, including ducks, chickens, and geese. It all took place on the Minnesota property owned by Zenkova, where she cares for animals that arrive in need of assistance.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This particular emu, BB-8, decided to take over some eggs in the duck coop. Zenkova explained on Twitter: “In emus, only the males incubate eggs and care for babies, the females lay eggs and bounce; that’s the end of parenting for them.”

Zenkova wasn’t sure if anything would come of the efforts of that emu, but she kept a close eye on what was taking place, and documented the whole thing on Twitter.

As the emu continue to sit on the eggs for a month, Zenkova was beginning to wonder if anything would hatch. It’s not unusual for an emu to sit on eggs that long because they must incubate their own eggs for up to two months.

She tweeted: “Our stalwart emu dad hasn’t left his clutch of duck/goose/chicken eggs; if any are going to hatch they may do so soon. I’m not sure if he can actually hatch them since the heat and humidity he offers is less than typical for incubating those others, but I’ve seen stranger things.”

On June 23, 21 days after BB-8 begin sitting on the eggs, she shared the news of a surprise they got when they checked on him in the morning. She tweeted: “For everyone wondering how the broody male emu is doing, he had quite an extreme surprise for us this morning!”

A video was then shared of a baby emu looking out from underneath the dad’s feathers. Within a few days, six tiny emus had shown themselves. Although she didn’t know what was going on, she did share a video showing how protective BB-8 was of his offspring.

As far as the other eggs are concerned, they have no idea what happened. Some people asked about them, however, so Zenkova said that they had disappeared and she thought maybe they had been eaten. She also had moved the goose eggs under a goose, knowing that it was a longshot but thinking the eggs might have a better chance of hatching.
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