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African Jacana — printable fact sheet
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African Jacana
Actophilornis africanus
The African jacana runs the standard bird family upside down. Females are about 1.5 times heavier than males, hold a territory, and mate with up to four of them; the males build the nests, incubate the eggs, and raise the chicks alone. A father moves his brood by scooping the ch…
Did you know?
- African Jacana chicks can swim and dive underwater to escape predators within hours of hatching.
- Females routinely destroy a male's clutch, which brings him back into breeding condition so she can mate with him again — a reversal of the infanticide usually attributed to males. Males have been recorded transporting eggs by clamping them between the bill and the breast. Because their weight is carried by lily pads rather than by mud, jacanas can feed in water far too deep for a wading bird of the same size.
What I learned
Draw the african jacana
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