Male rhea is a sole provider of up to 50 chicks

Photo from Care2 website

My wife Linda directed me to this Care2 website item and I just had to share it here.

"As members of a polygamous species, male Rheas have a lot of partners, but when it comes to child-rearing these dads pull their weight and then some.   Males can have up to a dozen or so female partners who all lay eggs in a nest he builds before they leave.   Males then take on the role of incubating and guarding what can be up to 50 eggs for close to two months before taking on the role of a single parent after they hatch.   Males also have been known to adopt orphaned chicks who have been separated from their brood".   And since reading this item, I have since come across a source which says male rheas can care for up to as many as 60 chicks!   What a remarkable creature.

Photo by Ignacio Yufera / www.iyufera.com

A male Darwin's Rhea is seen in the photo above feeding chicks in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile.   Rheas, which are flightless birds and native to South America, are found in the seven countries wholly south of the equator.

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BtheB