Jacanas | Jacanidae

Jacana's | Jacanas

The toes and claws are outlandishly long — the straight hind claw can be longer than the toe itself — so that the bird's weight is spread over a wide area and it can walk across floating lily and reedmace leaves without sinking through. It feeds on foot, picking between the leaves and off the water surface: insects, snails, small fish and seeds, at times turning a leaf over with the bill to see what lies beneath. A sharp spur at the bend of the wing is used for striking in territorial fights, and part of the family carries a bare fleshy lobe on the forehead. The roles are reversed: the female is much the larger, holds a territory containing several males and lays a clutch for each of them. The male then builds the nest alone — a thin mat of stems on floating leaves, often sodden — incubates the glossy eggs scrawled all over with dark lines, and raises the young by himself; at any threat he clamps the chicks under his wings and carries them off with their legs dangling.