I know! I've never appreciated it before until now. I don't think they actually imprinted on any of us as they happily snuggle up with anyone, but they do run after my brother if he puts them down and walks away
Aww, Dill was the same way as a duckling except that she would follow both me and my brother.
they can imprint on you. i only had one hatch one year and it would quack all the time i was out of the room, i was very lucky to find some more the same age to put with her. but they are so adorable.
Yeah all ducklings imprint at this age but since they have each other they'll only be imprinted as ducklings
Once they grow up they'll know they're ducks because ducklings imprint on their siblings too. This is called species imprinting (or maybe there's a proper name for it, I forget). This is different from filial imprinting (where they imprint on their mother). Therefore, ducklings that are raised by humans and grow up without other ducklings will always think they're human and that whoever they imprinted on is mom. It's the opposite with ducklings that grow up with other ducklings.
But at the same time, that doesn't always mean that ducklings that are the 'forever' type of imprint willdefinitely be super attached to 'mom' or even humans in general once they're grown. For example, my mallard Mallory is the 'forever' type of imprint but I accidentally ruined my relationship with her (kinda long story but she has a skittish nature typical of mallards and when she was a few months old I had to keep getting her out from under my bed which really scared her. she's never gotten over it
). She still thinks I'm mom and that she's a human because they can't un-imprint but you wouldn't know it from watching her.
Then on the other hand I've had/have other 'forever' imprinted ducks that aren't really any different from the other ducks that I have a strong bond with. If I did some kind of line up with all my ducks you wouldnt be able to pick the forever imprinted ones out from the rest. Ducks that aren't imprinted can be just as attached to someone as ducks that are imprinted, it's just a matter of spending a lot of time with them.
Anyway, sorry to derail, I just wanted to explain the imprinting thing because there's a lot of confusion with it, lots of people think it's a bad thing and some kinda judge people that have 'forever' imprinted ducks, but it's way too complex to call it black or white. But obviously you won't have to worry about any of this since they'll only be imprinted on you - or your brother I guess - as ducklings
And even as ducklings it doesn't sound like it'll cause any problems since they're happy to snuggle with everyone. Aside from Dill, my family has never been interested in spending time with my ducklings so whether they're imprinted or not I pretty much always have to have them with me when they're ducklings or they get upset and peep (not that I'm complaining, I love having my little shadows :lol
