An abandoned emu is thriving in a British aviary after being raised by an unlikely foster mom one-tenth her size.
The emu, named Shrub, was rejected by parents Forest and Mathilda who also had a difficult start in life.
Keepers at Birdworld discovered Mathilda had successfully hatched an egg but neither parent was willing to take on the role of caregiver. The lifeless one-pound body of an emu chick covered in mud, flies, and being pulled from the nest by crows, turned out to be Shrub.
In the wild that would certainly be the end of the story, but as they were in captivity, the job of raising her was given to Nugget, a small Bantam Hen who lived at Birdworld in Surrey, England. Nugget taught shrub skills such as eating and walking.
“Unlike most birds, emu males incubate eggs, and they are typically winter breeders,” said Polly Bramham, Living Collections Manager at Birdworld. “However, Shrub’s mother, Mathilda, laid eggs in the summer, and Forest didn’t seem to be incubating them.”
“We didn’t expect the eggs to hatch and were surprised when they found Shrub cold, muddy, and neglected in the nest. She was rushed to an ICU, warmed up, and fortunately turned out to be a resilient survivor, much like her father.”
Following her rescue and recovery, Shrub needed some expert training on how to become an emu, a job one might suppose Nugget was unprepared to teach. But Nugget took to emu-ing like a duck to water.
“Shrub quickly learned how to pick up food, drink, and coordinate her gangly legs. The keepers loved watching the two of them together,” said Polly, adding that it wasn’t long before the difference in size meant that the moment had come to reconnect Shrub with her parents.
“However, emus can be very reactive and defensive, and to let Shrub in with Forest and Mathilda may have been fatal.”
To combat this obstacle, Birdworld’s keepers would walk Shrub outside Forest and Mathilda’s enclosure, letting Shrub interact with her birth parents from outside the safety of the fence.
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“It was particularly important to do this while Shrub was still a juvenile, so that Forest and Mathilda would not see her as a threat,” said Polly. “We found Shrub to be a very happy-go-lucky emu, frequently misjudging social etiquette and getting disciplined as a result.”
Emus are extremely large and potentially dangerous birds with strong kicking legs, meaning that Shrub would continue to be separated from the adults at night for the next couple of months as she learned the rules of emu life that Nugget had been unable to impart.
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Today, Shrub now lives full-time with her parents, having started her life facing adversity but finding hope under the wing of her caring foster mother, Nugget.
“Seeing Shrub with her parents as they race around their paddock, you would never guess their difficult beginnings. Shrub is an amazing lady, and the keepers are so proud that she has no confusion about who she is. She is 100% emu,” Polly said.
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