For the love of a stork
Vets who saved a female stork, shot by hunters in Croatia, thought her days were numbered – but reckoned without the devotion of her mate.
The vets knew the female, which they called Malena, would never fly again but put her back on her nest thinking she would not survive the winter.
When her partner, named Rodan, flew south with their young they expected that she would eventually die and certainly never mate again.
But their predictions were proved wrong after the Vokic family where she had a nest helped to feed her through the long winter months and she survived.
And – even more amazingly – Rodan has returned every year to mate with his partner and rear another clutch of chicks.
Every year Rodan flies 13,000 kilometres to South Africa to spend winter in the warm and then the same distance back again to be back with his injured love.
I always find these tales interesting, though I can’t speak to storks. Squirrels I can speak to.
