Why do white storks kill their cubs?

White stork larvacide is a kind of infanticide, because the white stork breeds mostly in April and June every year, when the main prey of the white stork such as insects and frogs in the field is not very much, and the adult white stork also needs to eat, which leads to the young bird food is not very sufficient. If the young birds do not have enough food, the young birds will compete, and the fiercer ones will always be able to grab the food, while the weaker ones will only be hungry and full. After a long time, the size gap of the young birds will come out.

And over time, these weaker chicks can die of starvation. The white stork makes a difficult decision: kill the weak and keep the strong.

Rather than letting the weak young birds slowly die out in competition, it is better to leave all the resources to the strongest offspring as soon as possible, which is the choice of the white stork.

Extended Materials. White Stork: A bird of the genus Stork in the stork family, it is the common name of the European White Stork and the Oriental White Stork.

It is a large wading bird. Its plumage is predominantly white, its wings are black, and its adults have slender red legs and a slender red beak. There are three subspecies, which vary slightly in size.

The beak is long and stout, and it builds large nests in tall trees or rocks, and its head and neck are straight when flying. The white stork is a very famous bird in Europe, often nesting on rooftops or chimneys. It is a carnivore and has a wide range of feeding habits, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and small birds.

Most of the feeding grounds are shallow waters with low vegetation. Monogamy, but not for life. Females usually lay 4 eggs per year, take 33-34 days to hatch, and emerge after 58-64 days.

The white stork is a large wading bird, the average body length of the adult white stork is about 1 meter, the average wingspan is about 2 meters, they are distributed in Asia, Europe, Africa. In appearance, the white stork's feathers are mainly white, with a red beak and legs, and a very pointed beak. The white stork is a bird with migratory habits, they usually breed in Europe, and their appearance is relatively beautiful, so they are called "sending birds" by Europeans, and they are also the national bird of Germany.

Oriental White Stork. Killing cubs is for their own survival or a better survival for their offspring.

When the white stork population breeds, there are a lot of cubs to breed, and sometimes the density is too high, they will go to grab the nests of their own white storks and kill the young of other white storks to increase the survival rate of their own cubs.

When food is scarce, the storks also make layoffs, and they will lose a few cubs and leave them to fend for themselves to ensure that the remaining cubs can survive. Although the white stork's practice is cruel, it is actually a way for nature to maintain ecological balance.

It is possible for storks to peck at their young, but as for killing them, there is really no such thing. The stork does not kill the young birds, but only pecks the young birds, because the stork's beak is like a human fingernail, and it must be sharpened regularly throughout the year, otherwise it will not be able to close its mouth.

The stork is a bird, the beak is like a human fingernail, and it must be sharpened regularly all year round, otherwise it will not be able to close its mouth, and the stork will also peck the feathers of the young bird if there is something, which may be to bite off the capillary tube and help the bird's feathers grow out quickly, and then it is to drive away the bird, let the bird thrive, and leave the nest quickly.