Love story of storks Malena, Klepetan continues in Croatia after 15 years

Malena, a flightless female stork, rests in its nest in the village of Brodski Varos in eastern Croatia, on April 26, 2018. Malena's "love story" with the male stork Klepetan who migrates in August every year to South Africa and returns in March for its mate in the past 15 years has grabbed media attention in recently years. 

- The famous "love story" between storks Malena and Klepetan who raise their young in a small village in eastern Croatia has been going on for 15 years.

On March 29, the male stork Klepetan again returned to his injured flightless mate Malena after migrating south for the winter. Despite the 13,000-km-long ordeal, the bird found its way precisely to the same nest where he left in August. But, this year, Malena was not there.

"He surprised me because I didn't expect him so early. It was cold and Malena was still in the garage. When he arrived, I instantly called Malena to come out and see who has returned," Stjepan Vokic, the man who takes care of the injured stork, told Xinhua. "They immediately started to cuddle. They arranged a nest together and now have six eggs already," Vokic said.

The story of Malena and Klepetan has earned global attention because of their unique love. It all started in 1993, when Vokic, then a school janitor, found an injured stork. She was wounded by a shot from hunters and couldn't fly so Vokic decided to take her home. He named her Malena, a Croatian word for "a small one". Ever since then he has been taking care of her. During wintertime, when storks have flown to the south, Malena stays in a heated garage where Vokic built her a nest.

   

In 2003, Malena met her mate Klepetan, who was named after the knocking sound storks make with their beaks. Nature instinct is stronger than love. In late summer, Klepetan will join other storks and migrate south for the winter, while Malena stays in the village of Brodski Varos in eastern Croatia with the old man who saved her life. After winter, the same instinct that pushed the stork to migrate calls him back. Although white storks usually don't pair for life, Klepetan has remained faithful and every time he comes back from the south, he comes back to Malena.    

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          Klepetan returned every spring to mate with Malena. Through a radio tracking band, it was determined that Klepetan made an 13,000-kilometre (8,000 mi) month-long journey from South Africa to Croatia to meet up with Malena each year.[2][1] Vokić takes care of their chicks since Malena cannot hunt, building them a nest, shelter, and feeding them.[1][3] In 2017, Klepetan returned to find another bird and a newly laid egg in Malena's nest. Klepetan drove the male away and smashed his competitor's egg.[4] The pair had 66 chicks in total.[5][6]

           

In 2019, a bird that may have been Klepetan showed up unusually early to Brodski Varoš. He was thought to have died on August 28, however there is some speculation that it was a different stork due to its odd behavior. Klepetan returned to Malena once again in April 2020 despite rumors of death.[7]        

                             

                   Apurba kumar pal