A large family of mute swans has been spotted in Belarus — with 14 cygnets in one brood. They are presumed to be a little over a month old, writes Onliner.by.
According to ornithologists, this is a unique record for this species. The educational project about nature and birds, Kryly.by, wrote about this unique case on their social media.
Ornithologists encountered the large swan family during one of their walks along the Mukhavets River in Brest. Even experienced specialists were impressed by the number of cygnets being raised by a single pair of birds.
Onliner contacted Semyon Levy, the founder of the Kryly.by project, to find out the peculiarities of such an unusual phenomenon.
As a rule, mute swans lay 4-6 eggs in one season. Belarusian ornithologists studying this species have also encountered 10 cygnets in one brood. And once, people even noticed 16 cygnets — that was a few years ago in Mogilev. But 14 cygnets in swans is also a lot, and it's an exceptional case, — says the specialist.
The ornithologist also explains: such "multichild parenthood" is very energy-consuming for mute swans.
— The female spent more than a month just laying eggs, and then incubated them for about another month and a half. The male built the nest and brought her food. To raise such a large offspring, a lot of nutrients and energy are needed. So, it can be assumed that the female was in favorable conditions during winter and spring, she had everything she needed, and she had accumulated good fat reserves.
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