There is some surprising news in Freeport, Maine; Kylie Brown has become a mother at the age of five years! Did you gasp?! No need, because her child is a duck called Snowflake, whom she has raised from birth. So why call her a mother, as opposed to a pet owner? The answer lies in the unique behavior of baby ducklings, known as imprinting.
A young duckling naturally identifies with any animal larger than them, whom they see in their very earliest days of life. This need not be a mother duck…it could be any larger animal from a different species, including a Human Animal! That human animal came in the form of young Kylie.
Amazingly enough, a duck who imprints on a human, not only sees that human as it’s mother, but identifies himself as a human! In the case of Kylie and Snowflake, the understanding of the relationship is reciprocal…Kylie views herself as Snowflake’s mom.
