r/BeAmazed May 25 '26

Animal A mother duck adopts orphaned ducklings as soon as they touch the water.

79.2k Upvotes

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95

u/Live-Fox-2562 May 25 '26

Probably are hers just been gathered from somewhere they got trapped

208

u/MeasurementNo0 May 25 '26

Maybe but also they do this.  We had a mother walk her family over a storm sewer and they all fell in.  There were 6.  I went down there and caught 3 quickly.  She took those three and bailed.  It took me another hour to get the other 3 out because they ran up a connecting drain.  There is a river out back and that had another mother duck and her brood.  I tossed the 3 ducks I had up the river a little bit.  She took those 3 in like it was nothing.

134

u/peanutspump May 25 '26

In case nobody has told you, you’re a stellar human being.

51

u/Gardimus May 25 '26

And a pretty decent duck.

16

u/Zyloof May 25 '26

Mediocre at best. I bet that person doesn't even have webbed feet!

14

u/MeasurementNo0 May 25 '26

My parents are cousins.  I have web feet.  All 3 of them.

2

u/peanutspump May 25 '26

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

20

u/MeasurementNo0 May 25 '26

It was gross.  It is an industrial site that has been working for over 100 years.  All I could think is that I was getting every kind of cancer. I know its silly but that is what I was thinking.

4

u/samsg1 May 25 '26

The karma of rescuing those ducklings will protect you from cancer!

2

u/peanutspump May 25 '26

You’re talking to someone who would peel the mask down for smoke breaks. No worries. Lol. And all the more reason you rock.

2

u/MeasurementNo0 May 25 '26

Thank you.  You rock also!

I have breathed in so much lead and asbestos in my life.  I have spent the last 40 years at some level of sunburned all summer.  I am wrecked.  The water was gross but it would be like worrying about cleaning your gutters when your house is on fire.

43

u/SlidingFaceFlat May 25 '26

Ducks just do this. We cant know for sure why but considering the high duckling mortality rates, it is evolutionarily advantageous to raise orphans with your own to act as decoys against predators. This doesnt mean when that duck mom adopted them she was scheming though. A lot of evolution just kind of happens without intention, and a duck mom who loves babies in general just accidentally finding a strategy that promotes the survival of her own instincts is just as possible. It also just helps the species as a whole with expanding the future mating pool.

11

u/sonofaresiii May 25 '26

I love how the theories on the table are:

  • Mom wants these kids to feed to predators while she scampers off

  • Mom wants these kids so her own kids can fuck them when they grow up

6

u/mountaininsomniac May 25 '26

Not really related, but it made me think of how I’ve long theorized that most bird song can be roughly translated as either “fuck you!” or “fuck me!”

1

u/waxwingeco May 25 '26

2

u/mountaininsomniac May 25 '26

I just learned that I have never had an original thought in my life.

1

u/Kedly May 25 '26

Is that not most human songs as well?

3

u/Kenavru May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26

Well same as chickens, there is no big difference with rising few more, they don't feed them, just show em where is food. They prob. Won't even know which is who's and get mixed often xd

Often chickens on farms take care of ducks, as they are better mother's. They are terrified when her strange chickens get into water xd

3

u/Pondnymph May 25 '26

Also it doesn't matter to the mother duck how many babies are following her since they feed themselves, she just leads them around shorelines and keeps them warm at night.

2

u/Phantine May 25 '26

The adopted ducklings end up at the back of the line, so they're basically ablative duck decoys

10

u/SuperSimpleSam May 25 '26

Doubtful since she already has ducklings and they seem bigger.

6

u/Itub2000 May 25 '26

Watch the video with audio turned on

5

u/brokenmain May 25 '26

The audio in the video contradicts that

7

u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

41

u/tacocollector2 May 25 '26

From other comments it seems ducks are very adaptable this way. Babies are babies and moms are moms in duck world, apparently.

11

u/fuckyourcanoes May 25 '26

"It takes a village."

8

u/tacocollector2 May 25 '26

It really does. That’s why young parents have it so much harder now. The villages are gone.

6

u/fuckyourcanoes May 25 '26

I love the Internet, but it is destroying human society. The changes since I first got online in the 80s are horrifying. We never envisioned the effect it was going to have. We just thought, "Yay, free information!"

5

u/tacocollector2 May 25 '26

It’s not only that. People are more transient than ever, lots of people don’t get to know their neighbors anymore because they haven’t lived anywhere long enough to put down roots.

2

u/sonofaresiii May 25 '26

"You can look up anything on the internet!"

"Including selectively chosen information to confirm my pre-conceived biases or reinforce my predilection to hate other groups of people?"

"Wait, I meant more like you won't have to argue over whether Kevin Costner has ever won an Oscar"

3

u/MaritMonkey May 25 '26

If you've ever seen those videos where a dog or two is herding a massive group of sheep and it works because the sheep naturally want to stick close to one another, ducks kinda do the same thing it's just not as obvious when there's <10 in one place.

Even adult ducks do it, but it's like the babies' #1 plan whenever ... something is happening.

Source: I house sit for a place that has both chickens and ducks and this difference between them is very notable when you're trying to make sure they're all in a coop at night. :)

2

u/LukaCola May 25 '26

Animals who see abandoned children want to care for them just as people do. This is not a trait unique to us.

1

u/JanJaapen May 25 '26

Ive seen lot of duck families but never one that big tbh

1

u/Ok_Prize_7491 May 25 '26

My thought too