Family comes in all shapes, sizes, and species. Whether you have ten siblings and dozens of cousins or it’s just you and your dog against the world, every family has its own values and love that make it one of a kind.
Animals like dogs are willing to become family with species other than their own, but one special Border Collie took that a step further by ‘adopting’ a flock of newly-hatched ducks.
Puffin is a curious, caring, and nurturing dog who accepted her role as Mom right away. As soon as her human mom began incubating duck eggs, she wanted to be involved! Fortunately, as soon as the ducklings hatched, two of them decided that they wanted everything to do with her, too.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:
This is the sweetest animal adoption story! Puffin the Border Collie is such a special girl for loving on these babies, whether or not they’re hers. She accepted the Swedish blue ducklings right away, and it didn’t take long before they returned the favor.
Baby birds like ducklings experience a phenomenon called ‘imprinting’ shortly after hatching. This rapid-learning process helps the baby identify and form a strong bond with their mother or caregiver, and it certainly explains the babies’ fondness for their canine family member.
As one commenter wrote, “mothers come in all forms.” Motherly instincts come naturally to many female animals, regardless of whether or not they’ve had kids before. Puffin may not be a mama dog, but she’ll happily accept the role if it means spending time with the ducklings.