Take off with Natarajan

Diligently falling in line behind their mother, this group of ducklings has swum into the record books.

Despite laying her eggs in sub-zero temperatures at the beginning of March, a mother gave birth to 24 healthy chicks – thought to be the largest brood ever recorded.

The female was pictured with her two-dozen bundles of fluff at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s reserve in Arundel, West Sussex, after 28 days of incubating the eggs.

The female’s 24 eggs hatched successfully after 28 days of incubating at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s reserve in Arundel, West Sussex. The chicks will face a monumental task collectively making it to adulthood, with their inability to fly making them easy prey for pike and birds such as herons. The previous record for the largest brood of ducks is thought to have been set in Oklahoma in the US, where a female hatched 22 ducklings.

The youngsters are usually led to water the morning after birth, depending on their mother for between 50 and 60 days before they become independent.

With mum: One of the brood sits on top of their mother.

source::::Mail Online UK

Natarajan