Page 103 - Devotion Among Animals Revealing the Work of God

Selfless Devotion of Creatures Within the Family

changed the number of young birds the father cared for by moving
the fledglings around between nests. He found that father birds
forced to feed an increased number of offspring worked twice as
hard, and died sooner as a result. Parasites and illnesses associated
with them affected 76% of these fathers, as opposed to an average of
99
36% under normal conditions.
These results are important in helping to understand a bird's
dedication for its young and the hardship it's prepared to suffer for
them.

Feathers that a Grebe Feeds its Young
The grebes serve as floating nests for their own young. Young
grebes climb up on one of their parents. Once they have settled
down, the adult bird raises its wings slightly to prevent the chicks
falling off. It feeds its young by bending its beak back towards them
and passing morsels through it, but their first meal is not food. First,
the young birds are fed feathers collected from the water's surface or
pulled from the parent's
breast. Each little bird is
made to swallow a con-
siderable amount of
feathers. But why?
These first feathers
are fed to the young birds
as a very important pre-
cautionary measure for
their health. The young
birds cannot digest these
feathers, and so store
them in their stomachs.
Some of these feathers The grebe feeds its young the feathers that
pack together like felt at will later aid in their digestion.

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