How does the wood duck illustrate ATTENTIVENESS?
A pair of wood ducks work together in building their nest and preparing it for their young. When the nest is complete, the mother wood duck lays one egg each day for twelve to fifteen days. Amazingly, the egg that was laid on the fifteenth day hatches on the same day as the egg that was laid on the first day! How does attentiveness allow baby wood ducks to hatch on the same day? All the eggs hatch on the same day because the mother and father wood ducks begin “talking” to their young while they are still in the eggs. In this way the young ducklings learn to be attentive to the voices of their parents. As the day approaches for hatching, the mother wood duck begins giving instructions to the unhatched wood ducklings. Before long, a chorus of “peeps” and “kucks” comes from the eggs, as the ducklings respond to their parents and to one another. These “conversations” between adult wood ducks and their young bond them together and help to synchronize the hatching process so all the duckling
