Niamey, Niger, West Africa. Three-to-four-week-old Guinea fowl chicks with surrogate mother hen.

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The Guinea fowl mother of these chicks laid her eggs and did not return to incubate them. The eggs were given to this mother hen, who sat on them until they hatched and then began to tend the chicks as if they were her own. After two months the Guinea fowl are already half the size of the hen. An example of surrogate mothering or adoptive mothering in the animal world. 498_28.

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Size: 5221px × 3531px
Location: Niamey, Niger, West Africa.
Photo credit: © Charles O. Cecil / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: adoption, adoptive, africa, african, animal, baby, behavior, care, caring, chicken, chicks, fowl, guinea, hen, meleagris, mother, mothering, niger, numida, poultry, surrogate, west, zoology