Me and my egg: Chicks come out of their shells and pose next to their former homes

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER


Back next to its former home: This baby Ross's Turaco African bird has already outgrown the shell it came from


They may be just a few hours old, but it seems these tiny creatures had no problem coming out of their shells.

The newly-hatched baby birds were photographed next to the eggs they just came from in a series of eye-catching pictures by artist Eric Isselee.

Despite some of the birds being just 12-hours-old in the pictures, they are startingly already much bigger than the egg shells from which they entered the world.


Growing up fast: This baby Darwins Rhea bird is also much bigger than the shell it came from when photographed


Over the course of a year Eric - with the help of The Mulhouse and Beauval zoos in France - has catalogued a wide variety of birds enjoying a look round their former homes.

Eric said: 'I was photographing a very young bird, a Caracaras Southern, when the handler showed me its very colourful egg and placed it next to the tiny bird who had only hatched 12 hours earlier.


Out of their shell: This baby African penguin still looks quite attached to its former home


'It suddenly dawned on me that there are so many things that we ignore about birds.

'First of all, I was surprised by the difference in size between the egg and the animal, and was amazed that just a few hours before the chick was in that tiny little egg.

'We can all recognise a chicken's egg, but how many of us would know what a parrot's egg or a pelican's egg looks like for example?


Feathered friend: This young griffin vulture looks a little puzzled at being reunited with an egg just like the one it came from


'Also, many people have absolutely no idea how different some baby birds look compared to their adult form.

'A baby flamingo looks nothing like its adult form, in fact it almost looks like a penguin.

'I thought it would be interesting and educational for many people, including myself, to be able to learn more about some of our feathered friends.'

Eric said he was careful not to upset the balance of nature when taking his pictures and that all the chicks he used were hand-reared and not taken from their mothers without reason.


Newly-hatched: A young king vulture is another baby bird to be posed next to the egg shell in Eric's pictures


Bird's eye view: A baby southern Cararcas takes in its new surroundings while being pictured by an egg


He said: 'It is important that you know that all the birds I have photographed are hand-reared.

'Either their mothers could not take care of them, or they were taken from the mother to help her and to increase the chances of survival of the babies.

'Funnily enough most of the time the chicks seem to completely ignore the egg when it is placed next to them. Every now and again though a little chick pokes his head inside the egg, but it seems more like curiosity.'

source: dailymail