Mother Swan "Dies from a Broken Heart" After Teens Smashed Its Nest and Eggs

Swans are known to be very emotional creatures and, like humans, they grieve too. What's more interesting is that they can die of a broken heart.

A mother swan died last Thursday supposedly from a 'broken heart' after teenagers destroyed her nest and broke her eggs. The swan's nest was hurled with rocks and bricks by teenagers last month in Bolton, United Kingdom, damaging the nest and breaking three of the six unhatched eggs.

Moorhens, ducks, and a dog have since harassed the female swan since the first attack.

The father swan left two weeks ago and has not returned since. Wildlife enthusiasts believe that the male swan left due to tremendous stress from the teenager's attack.

Since the first attack, several eggs were lost. The female swan was found lifeless in its nest with just one surviving egg last Thursday, June 18.

San Woodrow, a wildlife activist, explained that a "broken heart" has caused the female swan's demise, as its partner left after losing their unborn cygnets.

A Facebook post by one Micheal James Mason in a Facebook Group named "All About Bolton" showed several photos of the swan and its nest. Mason posted that he felt like crying when he learned about the fate of the mother swan,  "Just feel like crying as [I] have followed her progress for about 12 weeks."

Meanwhile, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was saddened by the development and will be investigating the unfortunate incident.  The group urged anyone with information to contact the group.

Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1991 mandates the protection of the nest, eggs, and the swans.

Like humans, surviving swans also go through a grieving process when they lose their partner and may even die of a broken heart.

A Tragic Swan Story

This story of a brokenhearted mother swan is tragic, even for swans. Like humans, surviving swans also go through a grieving process when they lose their partners, and they theoretically may die of a broken heart.

Swans are known to stay together for life. The couple patiently builds lessons in rearing and raising their cygnets, finetuning their growth through time. This may be the reason why swan couples rarely separate. In their first year, a new swan couple raises fewer cygnets, but over time, the number of cygnets improves.

Swan couples make a good defense team. They protect themselves when they stick together. Should they get separated, the swan, regardless of its sex, gets threatened frequently and are less responsive in aggressive encounters. The female swan also tends to eat less when away from her partner.

Male swans are the ideal modern husbands that every wife dreams of: they help rear the eggs to allow mother swan more time to feed herself and rebuild the fat reserves that she lost when laying the eggs.

The swan parents rear their young for six to nine months in contrast to male ducks, which spend only a month with their young. These parenting practices make them different from other birds like ducks and geese.

But swan relationships are not perfect either. Like humans, some swans also leave their long-term mates, even if they have practiced perfect parenting through the years. The change of heart is sometimes due to a bad breeding season or a nest failure, which seemed to be the case with the latest mother swan story.