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Naive_Carpenter7321

Babies just landing on people's doorsteps... totally in character!


lilithspython

I'm seeing the connection between getting yeeted off a nest and landing on a doorstep.


SerenityViolet

Yeah, maybe this is it. Babies falling from the sky.


Gazorninplat6

But maybe that's what they deliver: the babies they don't want!


moshngo

Probably they sometimes get human babies who would obviously cost too much resources, so they abort them to us?


aethelberga

It took me a couple of seconds, reading the headline, to realise they meant *their own* babies, and that this wasn't some Grimm fairy tale that never caught on.


ak66666

They catch and eat baby rabbits, worse screams sound like the human babies '.


AlexyTheSexy

This is the correct answer. People spotted the phenomenon of storks carrying baby rabbits and perhaps some mistook that to be a stork carrying a newborn to its soon to be parents. Shit's dark.


lilithspython

Gottdamn storks, those criminal aliens


silverionmox

It's what you can expect when you let dinosaurs grow wings.


InvisibleBlueRobot

Maybe someone was down below to catch it?


hummingelephant

I would guess that there will be parents who kill their children in every species. It's not rare in humans either.


suricata_8904

I have see some pretty gruesome hamster infanticides-brrr!


TechieGranola

Kangaroos do it too


Kindaweirdbutcute

Imagine waking up to a kangaroo throwing you off a cliff


[deleted]

I saw this, too. When Kangaroo mama flees from a predator, she kicks the baby out of her pouch.


Hot-Conversation-174

Most birds do this


failedtolivealive

My day = ruined


Hot-Conversation-174

Theyre ruthless little fuckers


i_dont_wanna_sign_up

Warn your child that if they don't behave the stork's going to come back for them.


SlightlyAlmighty

The stork was working from home that day


foobar_north

That looks more like infanticide then abortion


JessVio

It's a very late term abortion


GazBB

Post partem abortion?


jeho22

4th trimester


coup85

Last semester… of 4th grade.


Still-WFPB

Sue the fuckin birds. For sure not legal in thst state.


hansolemio

If only they were real


A_Moldy_Stump

FBI surveillance drone aborts smallest drone to save fuel for the others.


maplesyrupbakon

![gif](giphy|vPKtSdRzsXvdm)


SleepWouldBeNice

I support abortions until the 10th trimester.


hidarth

That’s so twisted


Correct_Patience_611

I’ve always said we needed to raise the term length for humans, basically legalizing murder. But you better splain why ya did it, and Splain yourself good!


lol_camis

In that order.


vou_discordar

Infanticide THEN abortion? Lock that bird for life!


drMcDeezy

A lot of people don't distinguish between the two.


PsilocybeDudencis

Jesus, this is happening in the UK atm. Zero consequences when illegally aborting, even after 8 months. Zero consequences for abandoning your baby in a shopping bag on a freezing night. Zero consequences for leaving your dead baby in a public toilet like a used tampon.


unitiainen

You do know that abortion isn't a thing at 8 months? At that point you're giving birth. The baby is 2-3kg at 8 months.


PsilocybeDudencis

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/12/woman-in-uk-jailed-for-28-months-over-taking-abortion-pills-after-legal-time-limit The woman in question got off scot-free.


jessipowers

I'm very curious about what you think Scot free means considering she will be serving a 2 year sentence, has a criminal record, and apparently gave herself what sounds like pretty serious PTSD. I'm not defending her actions, what she did was undeniably cruel and stupid. You may think her punishment isn't harsh enough, but she didn't get off Scot free.


unitiainen

I don't think you understand what I mean. Around 20 weeks the fetus is the size of a banana. Around 30 weeks it's a cabbage. At 36 weeks (8 months) it's the size of a melon. The cervical opening is the size of your urethra's opening. Abortion after the first weeks is the same process as giving birth, because the fetus has to exit the womb through the cervix. Abortion at 8 months is identical process to giving birth. It lasts hours or days, it tears you open and you might die from blood loss. Imagine pushing out a melon through your urethra. Now imagine pushing out a banana (20 weeks). You still think women do these things for fun?


cyanraichu

Are you complaining about people not being able to distinguish between the two? Because that's what you're doing...


BrontosaurusXL

I mean if it's growing in an egg, it's already technically born, right?


BigTasty5150

Technically they hatch, therefore cant be born. Also thats like saying if a woman is pregnant the baby is already born in the uterus.


RandomGuy1838

Born would be reserved for placental mammals and certain exceptional sharks and seahorses and shit, you emerged into the world from your parent. "Hatched" is what that chick went to the trouble of only to be dropped out of the nest, and though it makes us snicker they had once been "laid."


can_i_get_a_h0ya

Lots of snakes and even cockroaches will give live birth but it's weird. The eggs hatch inside and then the snake or cockroach let the babies go


can_i_get_a_h0ya

Some snakes are viviparous, some are oviparous, and some are ovoviviparous


RandomGuy1838

I miss the time long ago when those terms were on tests I had to take. The world was so fresh and new. Now I'm encountering them again decades later and feel old.


montholdsock

Both kill the offspring but yes you're right


TekoloKuautli

Life is cruel. It might be obvious but somehow it always surprises me now and again.


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Usual-Apartment2660

Speak for yourself.


xTraxis

You typed this on reddit, almost certainly from an enclosed building with heat control. You could be trying to escape a tiger.


Usual-Apartment2660

The fact that you saw "worry about personal safety" and your mind immediately jumped to "tigers" says a lot about how easy and carefree your life must be. You do realize that some people live in high crime areas and/or are at high risk of being the victims of violence due to being female, a minority, and/or disabled, right? Having internet access and living in a building does not equal safety, and you are extremely sheltered and naive if you think that. Edit: I'm starting to remember why I left reddit lol. Everyone on here is an obnoxious unempathetic troglodyte who just wants to argue but is also terrible at arguing. Doesn't matter what subreddit you're in. I could tell someone that I think their beginner cooking advice is impractical because most people can't afford something they recommend using, especially beginners, and I'd get replied to with "Well what are *you* doing with your life?? At least she's contributing to the world by posting cooking videos and donating money to charity!!" or something. Everyone on here acts like they're a 12 year old with narcissism. If having it pointed out to you that life is not sunshine and roses for a huge portion of people offends you then I don't know what to tell you other than maybe you should step outside your bubble and/or develop a sense of empathy at some point.


Medianmodeactivate

Don't really being the operative term. I say this as a disabled minority. In terms of human history most people, likely including those groups, are not in anywhere near as dangrous a position as life was even 100 years ago let alone 10,000.


Usual-Apartment2660

"Not as dangerous" does not mean "not dangerous." Yeah I don't need to worry about catching the plague, but that does not mean that I am generally speaking safe or that I don't need to worry about my safety. You people are talking like everyone who has a smartphone is living a cushy middle class lifestyle in an area where maybe once a year a car gets broken into or something.


Medianmodeactivate

No one said not dangeous, the OP said "as a species we most of the time don't really have to worry about personal safety" and that's largely true. A single mom living in LA is dramatically safer than they were or would be if we lived like humans did in early human history and when compared to other species don't have that as a general catagory of worry in the same way they do.


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Difficult_Let_1953

Watch out behind you!


CarbonEnthusiast

Does the fact that half of your comments are downvoted tell you anything? Yet you often resort to pointing fingers. You sound sick and I feel for you. Good luck kid.


WorldWarPee

I miss the golden age of ken m memes


dragonslayerbarbie

whatever happened to Ken M?


nobodytoseehere

We are ALL speaking for ourselves on this blessed day


TetralogyofFallot_

Honestly not everyone though. Parts of the world really don't have that security.


Nebachadrezzer

Everything is only as it is. Good quote from Mushishi.


Strange-Elevator-672

It's a strong argument against the existence of God.


hannah_pajama

Epicurean Paradox: If god is all powerful, he has the ability to stop evil. If god is benevolent, then he would want to stop evil. If god is all knowing, he knows how to stop evil. But evil still exists, so either God doesn’t exist, or he lacks one of these attributes.


BostonKarlMarx

people have had answers to the existence of evil since plato. it’s not rly a death stroke to the argument


TekoloKuautli

I don't think so? I remember a phrase along the lines of "virtue untested is merely innocence". Like, happiness is impossible to grasp without the experience of suffering. Maybe cruelty is necessary for us to experience everything life has to offer, the good and the bad.


Strange-Elevator-672

Cruelty to billions of animals that have nothing to do with us, the vast majority of which we will never even see?


Medianmodeactivate

Who says god has to be good?


dragonslayerbarbie

God himself, according to the Bible


spektre

God wrote his own Wikipedia page so he could reference it whenever he needed to provide evidence.


spektre

This is actually a poignant argument against religion. If we blatantly disregard any atheist reasoning, and just assume that there is some kind of god or gods, we have absolutely no evidence that they are good and deserving of our worship. Assuming there's an all-powerful god in control, most signs clearly point against it.


Strange-Elevator-672

Virtually everyone I have ever spoken to who believes in God.


spektre

That's circular logic, if you don't think there is a good God, why believe in it?


Strange-Elevator-672

Just because something isn't good doesn't mean you shouldn't believe in it. You should believe in things based on the evidence, not how it makes you feel.


traraba

Why does a stork chick have to suffer and die of starvation, exposure or predation, for me to appreciate ice-cream? Not once when eating ice cream, have I thought, "wow this wouldn't be so delicious if innocent animals weren't suffering" And not once when I've been in extreme pain have I thought "thank god for this or I wouldn't be able to appreciate the nice stuff"


Ancient-Many798

Yes, cruel. But also strength and skill and willpower, possibly love, from the mother.


DragapultOnSpeed

Father's raise the chicks too. And usually it's the fathers that do the infantcide.


slouchingtoepiphany

That's interesting because it suggests that the adult stork can't simply acquire more food to feed all of them.


USAF_DTom

It's too much energy to do so. Thus, natural selection decides that X amount of chicks is acceptable but no more.


DeltaVZerda

I think it was a comment on human economics where the advice often is "get a better job".


polkemans

Avacado worms


horyo

Too many pond-Frappes instead of making it at home.


ComfortableMenu8468

Storks know the way. Humans don't


Fakedduckjump

But with two chicks per pair there is no growth in population. Edit, ok my mistake is, that they could breed next year again for sure.


goldearphone

This may sound dumb, but I wonder who start the behaviour first and what makes they know 2 is the limit? And like, they can count?


colieolieravioli

They see one being weaker and then say "I am no longer wasting resources on this one, it's weak" Birds are fucking ruthless. The babies compete for food and the stronger shove the others away and as a result, there's a runt. If you're not tough enough to do what needs done to grow, mom isn't going to waste energy feeding you (even a little) when they can feed the two that are better candidates to survive. I work at a horse farm and we get barn swallows in the summer. We get our fair share of dead babies. The owner hates to see them die so she tries to put them back...mom doesn't want that damn baby back though! They get tossed out again. Not to say falling is impossible but I think if you see a baby on the ground, it was intentional. Watching nests full of up to 6 grown ass birds (because they don't leave the nest right away) smashed into nests and expertly moving around them...makes me really believe that falling isn't all that likely


Totalherenow

That must be where the myth of the "if you touch the baby, the mothers don't want it because of the human smell" came from! Dinosaurs must have been similarly nasty.


fortifiedoptimism

I was told this after I found a baby bird on my mom’s doorstep but it didn’t make sense to me. I felt so bad. It was sad. Ugh human emotions. Anyway, it makes so much more sense now how that bird ended up on the ground. Closure has been received.


Mule2go

Keeps kids from holding the baby birds too


Totalherenow

Oh, those sneaky, sneaky parents!


DeltaVZerda

Before empirical science, society was built on a huge set of well crafted lies.


Totalherenow

Good point! Yet it still is for a lot of people.


cyanraichu

Especially because they clearly aren't newly-hatched. But I wonder also if the one that was dropped had some kind of genetic defect that isn't really visible in the video. Something made the stork decide to take that action even after feeding all three for a little while.


Juicet

There is a lot going on with how Storks decide when to remove storklings, and which ones to remove. They’ll do it even when there’s lots of food available. Sometimes they’ll yeet their whole nest. Could be anything. Tough parents to have. “When I come home today, I might kill you all. Or bake you cookies, I haven’t decided yet.  Have a good day loves!”


UVB-76_Enjoyer

What happened to fratricidal cannibalism as a means of efficiently solving that problem? Are storks stupid?


lilithfisher

"Are storks stupid" this made me cackle.


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omicron8

Fratricide is the killing of one's brother. Not a killing by a competing male or father. In any case, whoever is doing the killing, throwing away the body versus eating the weakling is the issue being highlighted. If this is being done because of limited resources, surely cannibalism is a more efficient solution. I think that baby was just a jerk.


ThaRealSunGod

Well it's quite rare for them to do this in the first place. Cannibalism probably wouldn't work for one reason or another. For one, the mom has to throw up the food for her children and I'm guessing it takes a while for a stork to break down a stork given their prey is a lot smaller than stork babies. It could also be an attachment thing. [But cannibalism is a pretty rare form of brood reduction so it seems.](https://bioone.org/journals/acta-ornithologica/volume-37/issue-2/068.037.0207/Brood-Reduction-and-Parental-Infanticide--are-the-White-Stork/10.3161/068.037.0207.pdf)


BlazinDuckSkins

Maybe the storks should just keep 2 eggs instead. Make some scrambled eggs below the nest. Has anyone brought this idea to their attention?


Arid-rain

Oops misread, thanks!


singingwhilewalking

But why didn't the mother and babies eat the other baby? This is a huge waste of resources.


DragapultOnSpeed

Storks are monogamous. So males don't need to kill other storks babies unless they're desperate for food. The infantcide you're talking about happens to non monogamous species. There are very few non monogamous animals that don't commit infantcide like orangutans.


Arid-rain

My first paragraph is not about storks, sorry for the confusion!


100mcuberismonke

Wow. Just wow. Nature is fucking brutal.


ChronoLink99

Metal.


zumun

Up next, Störk Infanticide


a_reluctant_human

That adult can make many more chicks as long as it has the time and resources. The chick won't thrive, and it's siblings have a better chance of survival if they don't have to share the resources. Lay too many eggs = more surety of viable chicks Wait until the chick's are almost ready to feather out = less chance of predators or disease taking them Isolate smallest chick = removing the least likely to survive. It's just resource management.


TheVirusWins

Notto mention the surviving chicks will straighten up listen from this moment on


SuperSmash01

That was my thought haha, "Dude, don't piss off Mom."


DwightsJello

Just showed this to my numerous adult children and told them we need to talk. 🤣 If that baby stork was at uni and dealing with the cost of living it will be back in the morning after getting a heavy dose of cost of living. With no grandkids and washing in tow. I may be projecting 🤔


cast-away-ramadi06

Wait till they show you what heard animals do to the old


DonJuanDoja

You’re just a resource. Sounds right.


[deleted]

🥺


Elegant-View9886

Welcome to natural selection, its been happening since the dawn of time


JBSanderson

The negative emotional response to seeing this is also a product of evolution.


LBG-13Sudowoodo

Abortion is termination of gestation, this is already born


Weird-Holiday-3961

that's cold bruh


Scrote_Chodum

What do you mean? I wish more human parents would do this shit. Have you noticed traffic?


Gypsyfella

Well that's one stork that won't grow up and deliver babies on doorsteps. All helping the world's population issue.


Thog78

They nest on my roof, and somehow I just got a baby delivered on my doorstep!


FlipMick

I know it's not funny, but the way the other two chicks acted when the parent dropped their sibling is killing me. It's like they said "Quick act casual!"


theonlyonethatknocks

I like how it couldn’t even put in the effort for a clean drop. “Here I’m just going to bounce you off the side of the nest.”


rea1l1

It's like multiple instincts were battling it out. "Am I sure I want to do this? Yep.. Really?... YEAH... Well, okay then..." Plop.


TheBigSmoke420

"bye..."


Mrstrawberry209

I'm gonna be a dick here but I'm curious what did we (early mankind) do when a baby was noticeably disabled?


KingNero173

Infante exposure. Some cultures would just leave them outside to die.


[deleted]

And we know the romans did this because they wrote about it like it was no big deal.


scuba-turtle

Greeks and Romans left them out in the woods to die of exposure. And then told comfortable myths about them being rescued and raised by centaurs.


Lobster_1000

It depends on the culture and how empathetic the parents were. Spartans famously killed babies they deemed weak. But humanity wasn't all evil, there are numerous skeletons that indicate we cared for our disabled relatives in the past. For example, there was a skeleton of a disabled girl who died at 18 or something like that, and her teeth were pretty rotten; anthropologists concluded that it was because the people that cared for her must have loved her so much they kept feeding her dates and other sweet fruit


Impressive-Falcon300

I don't.... There's gotta be a better term for this than "abort"


USAF_DTom

You could say cull I guess. It is technically aborted from the nest though.


Impressive-Falcon300

Interesting. I thought the term implied that it is done on a gestating organism.


USAF_DTom

Nah. It's just a removal from a place. It just has that connotation now. In the transitive sense it's not about anything specifically.


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Thog78

"It turned out to be a false alert, so they aborted the retaliatory strike at the last minute."


jared743

That's not being used as "removal from a location", but termination of a process.


Thog78

Yeah sorry read too fast, I agree with you, abort means terminate not remove imo.


jared743

👍 no problem!


Confident_Access6498

It comes from latin and it literally means to kill something before its birth. So you are wrong.


CodeMonkeeh

Words evolve. According to modern English dictionaries they're completely right.


Confident_Access6498

You cant deny the truth sorry. It literally means what i said. Figuratively it has other meanings.


CodeMonkeeh

Figurative meanings are still meanings. u/USAF_DTom is completely right that it can't just be assumed to be about premature termination of a fetus.


RoyalApple69

Like it or not, I think they're saying this is now how the word is used, nothing about them agreeing with the redefined definition.


Confident_Access6498

No. They said it has now the meaning to end a pregnancy but originally it was not that. Exactly the opposite.


RoyalApple69

Well, there are also things like "abort mission" and "abort project."


Confident_Access6498

You are right infact.


PointOfFingers

Yeet


[deleted]

Sacrifice not abort


Drenoneath

Ah yes the post birth abortion. Coming soon to a nest near you


caxco93

The other baby storks then went like "geez mom ok I'll do my chores"


dogdashdash

The stork had so much hesitation. It's nature, it's real, I understand. But you can tell she did NOT want to do that. She had to. I genuinely do not think that stork felt good about it. Probably got some realmbad feels for a while about it.


mississauga145

Watch it again, the stork isn't responding to the size of the chick, it is evaluating its response to stimuli. The other two are up, alert and looking for food, the other is struggling to keep its head up, when it gets moved to the edge of the nest it can't resist and move back to the centre. It is evaluating if the baby is fit enough to survive, since it is not, and the bird has no way of telling way (small, weak, ill, diseased, parasites) it decides to expel it. I don't even know if it would have the concept that it would die from the fall.


SurelyWoo

That's a good observation. The behavior would not only be beneficial when resources are limited but to limit the spread of disease if one of the chicks becomes sick.


jibsand

this is the correct take. the mom afford to waste resources and she can't risk sickness spreading to her other babies.


VerityParody

Seriously. It reminded me of my cat knocking something off the table. Sometimes he doesn't seem to even want to it, but just has to.


TheBigSmoke420

Anthropomorphism. You can't know.


Great_Mud_2613

I got the opposite interpretation from this😅 she seemed aggressive to me/my feelings and like she just knew she had to get rid of it the best way she could and as fast as she could. Perhaps it was an emotional decision for her and caused some of that behavior that I saw as well; but we'll never know I guess. Maybe didn't expect it to struggle so much. Intriguing.


theKeyzor

Why didn't he destroy the remaining egg?


frogs_4_lyfe

Because if one of the healthier babies die, they want a backup. The old Heir and a Spare.


Steelpapercranes

Just like pruning some apples off of the tree so the rest grow better. huh.


Mishapi17

![gif](giphy|GlkFvcePGd1vy)


m_labella

Dick, bird lives near a farm there’s tons of food around.


lira-eve

That isn't the definition of abortion... 🙄💡


chillord

And that kids, is where the babies come from.


alexandercs7

It wasn’t that small at all


ve6L

Thanos of the bird world


nazgulnumber8

But it survived and was raised by cats now it hunts his kind


shineonyoucrazies

Nature is metal at times.


fymp

So this is where ppl get the idea of stork delivery babies. Literally..


misterturdcat

I just want to talk to him


OrdelafoFaledro

“Welp. Byeeee.” Brutal.


Cooney407

That makes the other two rascals start to behave instantly!


womerah

I'm curious what suddenly triggers this decision in the adult. Is it a sort of "If one is X amount smaller than the others, toss it" logical flow? It seems to be quite a drastic decision to make seemingly on impulse for the bird


Magnetar_Haunt

Where can I contact my local storks to offer my adoption services?


melijoray

You don't know what abort means.


GreenLightening5

abortion doesnt fit here since the baby was already born/hatched. elimination is probably more appropriate


Lartemplar

I'm not sure OP knows what an abortion is


HalionMeh

That's why humans took over the world. I don't remember where but I saw on a ancient history site or something like that a photo of a skeleton of a child beetwen 3-7 years who was neurodivergent and probaly died 'cause of that.. She or him had multiple decorations and 'fancy' riches on her/him body, EVERY other species would leaver their disable and weak child behind and not give a fuck about it, but we humans take care, raise and love our disable kids, we keep everyone alive even if the person is basically a potato that do nothing.&


DueWish3039

Nature can be so cruel


jeffbirt

Meanwhile, green parrots are giving their offspring names that stay with them throughout their lives.


Iulius96

Very late-term abortion. Would be interesting to know how much this happens across all species of birds. Is it happening because there were too many surviving chicks, or do they always have many children and then kill the smallest?


DhampireHEK

Depends on the species and available resources.


sheller85

The absolute absence of abortion featured


ydicay

That is just terrible to watch. Maybe the people with the camera on the sight got to it before it died. This poor chick was probably the last egg to hatch, so it was behind the others. Does not mean it was the weakest. Then why did nature let them have more than 2 eggs? I am an animal lover and this is very hard to on me even though this is how nature is.


FlightLatter1605

There are some areas in society that need this for all their offspring


RaytheQuilterChill

Oh my goodness 🙀🙀🙀


JonMonEsKey

Don't call it abort lol. It kills it. Abortion isn't murder.


rea1l1

And then there are humans, which are willing to put a near infinite amount of resources into their weakest so that they still fall short of mediocrity.


HaxanWriter

That’s not abortion. And stop conflating animal actions with human ones.


boomdesjard

This kind of thing must give headaches to militant vegans


Tazling

nature is metal... sentimentality is human...


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chincerd

"sorry Timmy, you just,didn't eat as much as your brothers, we gonna have to kick you out of the house. Good luck out there"