Baffling Jacana Bird Defies Evolution
Admittedly, this is just a speculation, but if baryons-to-birds evolution were true, there should be a large amount of sameness. Laws of nature have to be followed. Anyway, the jacana is a strange bird that goes against many general patterns in nature. They are part of the shorebird created kind.
It would make sense to nurture the young so the species can keep going. Young jacanas do not live long enough to reach adulthood. Natural selection may have had a part in how a lone female can usurp the dominant female and then kill the chicks that are not hers! (Unlike human females that want to protect a baby, even if they do not know it, because it's a baby.) When an outside predator comes around, Dad gets involved.
For one thing, the female is much larger than the male. Another is that mating is polyandrous. That is, females mate with multiple males. (Interestingly, many birds are monogamous for a season or even for life.) Behavior toward their own young is...truly bizarre.
Crested jacana bird, Flickr / David Minty (CC BY 2.0) |
Jacanas are freshwater shorebirds found in tropical and subtropical regions of India, Australia, Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. Jacanas belong to the Jacanidae family, in turn part of the shorebird created kind. This corresponds to the suborder Charadrii, or possibly even the entire order Charadriiformes.Also known as ‘lily-trotters’, jacanas have long slender legs and elongated toes up to 10 cm (4″) long. These help to spread their weight, allowing them to walk on floating aquatic plants such as lily pads. . .
You can read it all by flying over to "Under his wings — The male jacana bird’s unusual family protection strategy."