When their lily pad home is threatened by a crocodile, this devoted father jacana saves his chicks by tucking one under each wing and carrying them to safety.
Features
TRANSCRIPT
(birds chirping) - [Narrator] Day old African jacanas already know where the food is.
(gentle music) (water splashing) And they get there on oversized feet they'll have to grow into one day.
(gentle music) (water splashing) They're not ideally adapted for running or flying, but getting around on floating lilies, that is their specialty.
(gentle music) (beak pecking) It helps that they weigh just a few ounces.
(feet splashing) The twins have no perception of the danger beneath the lilies.
(dramatic music) (birds chirping) (water splashing) Without a mother, two tiny fluff balls with long toes wandering around on a thin platform of lilies won't last very long out here.
(dramatic music) (water splashing But jacana mothers always abandon their chicks as they hatch and leave them entirely in the care of the males.
(splashing water) The father has his own flotation issues to deal with, but he keeps up with them, watching for anything suspicious in the water.
(birds chirping) And, there it is.
(dramatic music) (birds chirping) With a coded chirp he calls his chicks to him.
It's not just to hide them from the crocodile.
He has to move them to safety, and the best way for him to do that is to tuck one under each wing and walk them out of danger.
(dramatic music) Keeping the kids quiet in a dark place is always a challenge.
Those that survive here are the ones most aware of the sinister hiding in the beauty.
(dramatic music) (bird chirping)