Unfortunately, nature is very cruel, especially if an animal knows something is wrong with its young and they will not survive. Another possibility is that the male swan is a new parent and has no idea that the cygnets came from an egg. As unbelievable as this may sound, young swan parents abandon their young, continue sitting on eggs that have no chance of hatching and ignore cygnets that are hatched.

Some swan parents will try to kill their young and others will lay a second set of eggs while totally abandoning the care of the cygnets that have hatched from the first clutch. No one knows why this occurs, but is seen in the wild as well as the captive setting. By the second year of breeding, things do get better and the young parents seem to have a better handle on how to care for their young. The Regal Swan