The Swan Divorce

Love is dead ... No, no. Not Brangelina splitting up. We're talking about a pair of swans at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre at Slimbridge, England.

Swans are famous for mating for life, but this year a male swan named Sarindi (the cad!!!) turned up in an annual migration from Arctic Russia with a new female. Perhaps not to be outdone, Sarind's ex Saruni also showed up with a new mate:

Julia Newth, wildlife health research officer at Slimbridge, said the situation had taken staff by surprise.

She said swans tended to have "real loyalties to one another" and long partnerships.

"As long as they are both still alive, they will try to stay together. If they have a change of mate it is perhaps because of mortality, not necessarily through choice," she said.

In this case, however, both swans and their new partners are now over-wintering in close proximity on the lake at Slimbridge.

Ms Newth said the old pair had not acknowledged each other with any signs of recognition or greeting - even though they are occupying the same part of the small lake.

Oh well, it's not like they have 8 kids together or anything ... Next stop for the swans: Divorce Registry! Link


Ahh the mythology of animals mating for life. If you look deeper into this so called mating for life phenomenon you'll see it's not as clear cut as some would have us believe. Science has discovered that there's a lot of "cheating" going on. I think it's just wishful thinking on some people's part. They want this to be true but it just isn't so.
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