Swans shock bystanders by using crosswalk

PERRANPORTH, England, June 13 (UPI) -- Pedestrians and motorists at the Perranporth, England, town center said they were surprised to see a family of swans use a crosswalk to cross the road.

Witnesses said the mother swan led her eight cygnets, which were thought to be about one month old, on a 1,640 foot journey from the beach to their home in a nearby boating lake, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

They said the birds observed proper road safety procedures by using the pedestrian crossing to traverse the road.

"It was quite funny that they just walked across the zebra crossing," said David Quinnell, who spotted the swans while shopping. "When I first saw them they were lined up outside the fish and chip shop looking into the window. Seeing them on the high street was really quite strange -- it looked very surreal."

Rex Harper, a retired warden for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the mother swan may have learned to use the crosswalk by observing humans.

"The female knows the area pretty well so they may well have seen other people going over the crossing and picked it up," he said. "But you can't say that swans are super intelligent because they're not. Maybe they thought it was a pelican crossing for birds."