In Honor of Father's Day

I still have 15 minutes to post this!

For Father's Day, the Avian Daily would like to honor the male rhea, who takes care of building a nest, incubating the eggs, hatching them and then raising the young. The male rhea at the National Zoo is now doing just this. His four little babies hatched April 20 and he is now in full parenting mode. With the addition of the chicks, the total number of rheas at the zoo has climbed to 7.

Rheas are native to South America. Like their ostrich relatives, they cannot fly. In fact, they are often mistaken for ostriches due to their similar size. According to Science Daily, the rhea "is part of the family of birds known as ratites, which also includes the ostrich, emu, kiwi and cassowary."

For the full article on the new rheas at the National Zoo, and to see the cutest photo EVER of the little babies and their proud papa, click here.