Clutch of Forty Chicks in the Wild

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I have heard claims of this from various sources; and now good ol' Youtube has a relevant clip:

What I've been told is that, under certain circumstances, a male will 'aggregate' chicks from other clutches.

We do know that emu chicks -- there are two here today doing it -- will attach themselves to adult emus (even females).

Now, we could surmise that, for example, a male with a clutch of eight was close when another clutch of eight lost its Dad in an accident. But that still makes a clutch of 'only' 16. This male is leading a mega-clutch approximately six times the size of a normal clutch.

And notwithstanding the video of the male with 29 eggs -- it's gotta be a safari park -- I don't think this male hatched 40 eggs. And if that were the case, it would have to be in a hot area. Certainly wouldn't happen in the Rothschildi territory here.

 

[briefvisit]

And I welcome opinions on this issue. Watch this:

Do emu males sometimes parent their chicks right into the chicks' second year? I've seen in winter a male with a chick of a good size -- last season's. The two orphans here are now 18 months old, and still following the adult birds around.

Now check the size of the chicks in the video. The 'dividing line' is ten and a half months. If a male is to incubate, he must 'divest' himself of last season's chicks by mid-winter. Those chicks would be that age at that point.

[We have data on this: I've seen Eric ditch his chicks, and turn up with a female just ten or fourteen days later. And I've observed independent chicks of less than a year old. Once I found the roost of such a chick [chick-sized poops, and I knew the chick was in the vicinity], and thought about what a frightened little morsel of emu-ness that chick was each night, sitting on its own in the wind and rain!]

But, logically, if the male chooses not to incubate, it can continue parenting. So, the chicks would be a year old on the first of Spring -- which is why that day is emus' birthday!

I think this is a really important datum because it tells us a lot about other stuff, like the ratio of males to females in the species.