Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

Watching a northern jacana walk with ease over a surface mat of water plants, you’ll understand how it came by its most common nicknames, “lily trotter” and “Jesus bird.” Don’t mistake jacanas for peaceable grazers, though; these birds don’t turn the other cheek – at least, not the females.

Jacana social and sexual dynamics are fascinating. Males and females look the same, but the female is about twice as large as the male, and this sexual dimorphism is reflected in dramatic behavioral differences. Female jacanas are polyandrous, meaning they mate with “many males.” In fact, they acquire a harem of males who each build a nest in which the female lays eggs after mating. The males then brood the eggs and raise the chicks without any assistance from their female. Sometimes, a female jacana will aggressively “takeover” a male from another female. The females engage in intense fights using bony spurs located on the inside, leading edge of their wings. If a takeover is successful, the victorious female first destroys any existing eggs in her new male’s nest, then mates with him and lays new eggs. Researchers believe (though it isn’t yet confirmed) that if the newly acquired male is already caring for chicks, his new sugar sultan will commit infanticide in much the same way male lions kill cubs not sired by them when they take over a pride.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.