Ribbon meaning: childhood cancer (alternative color: pink), prostate cancer, Trisomy 18, and scleroderma. Dark Blue: knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness. Ribbon meaning: arthritis, child abuse prevention, victim's rights, free speech, water quality, and water safety. Brown: stability, masculine qualities.
But, it was not until the early 1900s that any scientific studies were done of the phenomenon. Austrian naturalist Konrad Lorenz became the first to codify and establish the science behind the imprinting process. Lorenz found that when young birds came out of their eggs they would become attached to the first moving object they encountered. In most cases in the wild, that would be their mother.
The openness of goslings for learning a leader, even if it does not resemble a goose, is intriguing. Imprinting demonstrates how genes can largely shape a behavior, but that evolution can create a window for learning important information about variation in the environment (Figure 2). Figure 2: A Canada goose family. Imprinting by the goslings on their parents helps to keep the family together.