Geese continued to follow a human around assuming their actual mothers

Some species take the idea of attachment much further than we humans do. Consider the greylag goose, pictured here following the Austrian animal researcher Konrad Lorenz. Lorenz detailed the greylag’s tendency to imprint upon the first moving object it encountered in the first few hours of its life. Usually, this would mean imprinting upon the mother and then following her around for food and protection. Alas, these poor geese have imprinted upon Lorenz himself; they continued to follow him around even when they were given access to their actual mothers. Fans of the television series Modern Family might recognize this idea of imprinting from a similar storyline involving Phil Dunphy, who tried his hardest to get hatching ducks to imprint on him, only to be stymied in his (ridiculous) plan when they crossed paths first with his wife Claire.