This is a male long-legged pheasant (Actophilornis africanus) running through the rich but dangerous wetlands of Botswana, Africa.
Male Long-legged Pheasant Plover
Not all of these seemingly deformed limbs belong to this male Long-legged Pheasant. He is a plump father, with four young pheasant plovers curled up under his wings, their long legs and feet still exposed.
After hatching from the eggs, the chicks already have the same distinguishing feature as their parents - elongated toes, each toe is half the length of their legs.
fledgling
Although this feature may seem strange and clumsy, evolution has its merits - the elongated toes and nails allow them to spread their weight while foraging on floating aquatic vegetation. The pheasant plover struts on the water lily mats in the wetland, even if it carries its young in its arms, it does not sink.
Each toe is half the length of their leg
As for why they carry their young - the move helps protect the chicks from predators lurking beneath the lily pads.
However, even though Father Bird has tried his best, there is still no guarantee that everything will go wrong. In fact, many chicks do not survive their first few weeks of life.
One-for-four
Multi-male mating system
In dangerous wetlands, the long-legged pheasant has evolved an unusual strategy to cope with the high mortality rate of its chicks.
During the breeding season, the female bird will open a harem - gather several male pheasants, mate separately, and lay several clutches of eggs.
After laying the eggs, the female bird patted her butt and left without saying a word to meet the next one. Everything after
is the responsibility of this group of male harems: hatching eggs and raising chicks. The male bird is a good father and will hide his young under his wings when threatened.
Both father and mother
This is a very rare multi-male mating system - one female mates with multiple males, and the male takes care of the chicks alone.
The evolution of this system is the result of two factors: First, the lakes where pheasants live are rich in resources, and the relative energy consumed by females when laying eggs is actually negligible.
Secondly, this almost completely avoids competition between males and greatly increases the speed of reproduction. Whether the father bird can take good care of his own offspring depends entirely on the father bird's ability to hatch, raise and take care of the chicks.
is written at the end
The long-legged pheasant lives in these lakes full of aquatic plants all its life, walking on the water surface on the plants, diving down and swimming gracefully, looking for small fish to eat.
Just like walking on flat ground
Water levels in sub-Saharan Africa fluctuate with the seasons, and they need to move with them. During the wet season, pheasants thrive as new vegetation in the floodplain grows along the river banks; during the dry season, habitat becomes scarce and they must search for water to survive.
When life is faced with a lot of dangers, it is not a bad idea to leave all the responsibilities of taking care of the children to the father.
The author thanks you for your attention(¬_¬)
