The word duckling is pretty much synonymous with the word cute. The sight of a flock of ducklings following their mother in a row is enough to melt even the coldest of hearts.
Ducks, as well as other bird species, are known for following their mothers around almost blindly. This behavior is due to imprinting, which is when a newly born animal fixates on the first object they see, which is usually their mother.
However, when some children were rock climbing at the beach, they noticed that they were in the company of a mother duck and her ducklings.
Ducks are much more graceful in the water than they are on land — let alone on a steep rock face. So when the mother duck decided that it was time to go back into the water, most of her babies followed.
Sadly, only half of the eight ducklings were brave enough to take the leap of faith and follow their mom down toward the water.
[H/T: The DoDo]
When the kids noticed that the ducklings became separated from their mother, they immediately began their rescue mission.
First, they managed to find two ducklings and return them back to their mother and siblings, who were waiting patiently by the water.
Sadly, by the time they children found the last two ducklings, the family had already decided to cut their losses and swim off.
The kids waited a while to allow for a natural reunion of the family, but the rest of the ducks never came.
Instead of leaving the ducklings alone, the kids decided to call their local animal shelter, the JSPCA.
But the ducklings were not brought to the shelter empty-handed, they came with a note.
The adorable note begins with some very important questions:
- Which one is a boy or girl?
- How old are they?
- Can you find its brothers and sisters and mum?
- Can we viset [sic] them?
The questions were followed by the story that led to the ducklings' rescue. It reads:
Here is the story:
Jess, Thalia Serafin and Kyle were rock climbing and then saw a duck and 8 baby ducklings. The mother jumped down from a hie [sic] place about 19 foot and then went through the rocks and swam with 4 baby ducks. We found 2 and put them….
in the water to swim to their mum. Then we double checked and two more were there. We could not sea there [sic] mum so we climbed back to the beach without dropping them we got some grass and cupped our hands and put them on the grass and took them back to the beach and called JSPCA animal shelter!
THANK YOU FOR SAVING THEM!
The landscape surrounding the beaches in Jersey, UK, are rocky and steep, which explains why the little ducklings were daunted by the alleged 19-foot jump.
Luckily, the kids were there to watch over and save the ducklings from predators they would have been vulnerable to, had they been left on their own.
The JSPCA shared on their Facebook:
We are very pleased to have been able to help these ducklings and grateful to the children who found them. They are becoming little celebrities 🙂
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