Lebed

Since childhood, many are familiar with the tale of G.Kh. Andersen about how an ugly duckling, an outcast of the poultry yard, turned into a beautiful swan. Little girls and boys sympathize with the chick and rejoice in its success. Having matured a little, they think about how much truth is in this story. Do beautiful graceful birds at the beginning of their life path look like freaks? Is a duck able to feed and raise a roan?

In fact, the swan egg is somewhat larger than the duck. Therefore, the chance that the situation will develop as described in Andersen's story is quite small, but still at home it is. It is believed that these two species of birds are related.

If the baby is lucky enough to hatch from the egg, then it will not look like a scarecrow, but like a large fluffy cute caterpillar. Here we can assume that the writer used the word "ugly" metaphorically, putting into it the meaning "not like others." After all, if you think about it, against the background of miniature, yellow, like the sun, ducklings, a large-sized, almost colorless chick of swans looked awkward. But time put everything in its place: he turned into a wonderful white bird.

But it was not in vain that Andersen made the swan the hero of his fairy tale. These birds really attract attention and cause admiration. Individuals of this species are considered the largest birds in Europe, but unfortunately, they are currently considered endangered: of the 16 species of swans known to science, only 6 now exist.

Almost all chicks are born light gray or white. Birds acquire their color in the process of growing up (usually closer to three years). In many ways, it will depend on the habitat, so white birds live in the north, and black ones are found to the south.

It is inconvenient for snow-white birds to move on the ground, so they spend most of their lives in the water. When they land on land, they lose all their elegance and stomp heavily, waddling from side to side.

The number of feathers on the body of a swan is approximately 25 thousand units. Therefore, they do not freeze and look so beautiful. However, during the molting period, individuals lose more than half of their plumage, so they are temporarily unable to fly.

The long neck of a swan is not just an ornament, but a functional part of the body that allows you to get food without diving under water