Communication

Inspector Fitzgerald, proud member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is having communication problems. He seems to be failing in his effort to convince Gary that he is not the wayward Canada Goose's mother. The Inspector was present at Gary's hatching and became the subject of the young fowl's dedicated affection.
This early social behavior among precocial birds has been termed imprinting and has been defined as a process that causes the newly hatched to become rapidly and strongly attached to social objects such as parents or parental surrogates. That is to say, there is a marked tendency to approach, remain near, and follow such "targets". A complementary observation is that infant birds give evidence of distress when familiar targets are removed from them and contentment or pleasure when the target is returned.