Give this wannabe dad an "A" for effort: A male bald eagle at a sanctuary in Missouri is incubating a ROCK, because he thinks it's an egg.
His name is Murphy. He hurt his wing a long time ago and can't fly. So the sanctuary took him in, and he lives with four other bald eagles.
For whatever reason, he decided a rock in their enclosure was an egg. So he built a small nest on the ground, and he's been sitting on it waiting for it to hatch. He's also protecting it from the other eagles and won't let them get close.
The rock isn't even round. It's sort of flat and jagged on top, but he thinks it's an egg anyway.
Helping with eggs is normal for male bald eagles. They help raise their chicks too. So that part's not weird, just the rock. He's been waiting for it to hatch for over a week now.
People online have already named his "egg." They're calling it "Dwayne the Rock" after Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
The good news is you don't have to feel too bad for Murphy. Sanctuary workers say he's perfectly content with his rock, and not sad at all. Even when real eggs don't hatch, eagles don't show signs of depression or anything.
They say it's a hormonal response because of spring. He'll eventually get bored with the rock and move on, but it might be a while. It normally takes around 35 days for bald eagle eggs to hatch.
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