| 2.
Coming into the World: Who Are Your Parents?
Chicks
in Captivity
The first thing a captive-raised chick sees is a crane puppet.
This becomes "mom." The chick knows, by instinct,
to stick close. The puppet also has a tiny recorder that plays
the call a parent makes to its chick. The call means “It’s
okay. Follow me.” Click here to hear the call! |
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Very
soon, the tiny chick is put near a living adult Whooping
crane. Watching
the real crane tells the chick how its species moves and
behaves. A plastic wall keeps the chick safe. Do you see
the tiny chick on the green fake grass?
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Chicks
in the Wild
The very first thing these babies see is their parents. They
also know, by instinct, to stick close. Still, there are so
many dangers in the wild (or from the older sibling that hatched
from the other egg in the nest) that many chicks die before
they are
one month old. |
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