Anyone see ‘Dumbo’ on TV the other weekend? The opening sequence when the storks deliver the baby elephants made me wonder where this connection between the birds and babies came from.
So I had a bit of google and the two commonest strands of thinking on this seem to make perfect sense.
The first is linked with their migratory patterns. European storks head off to Africa in autumn and return in Spring – a time traditionally associated with life starting anew and fertility. This is also roughly nine months after Midsummer’s Day (June 21) which was a major festival for our ancestors. The celebrations involved much drinking and making merry… which often led to making babies. These duly arrived in the following Spring … along with the returning storks.
The second involves the ancient Greeks (doesn’t it always?). They observed that storks devoted a great deal of time to raising their chicks and made exemplary parents. So who better then to handle human young. You can see where they’re coming from but an au pair might be a safer bet.
And, of course, storks are large enough to make the idea of carrying a newborn entirely plausible. Generally, storks can have a wingspan of up to 6 feet but the Maribou stork’s wingspan can be over 10 feet . So hauling a baby over rooftops would be child’s play.
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