I have read several times about the unusual and selfless behaviour of pelicans who tear open their chests to bleed out and feed their young when food is scarce.
Does this actually happen in nature? NOPE.
Pelicans don't do that.
The image of the pelican bleeding out is nothing more than a symbolic depiction spread by religion, which has made the scene a metaphor for Christ, immolation and, more recently, blood donation.
The pelican is often depicted without a gular sac (making it look like a stork), and this is due to the fact that sometimes the adult pellican presses the sac against the thorax, causing a predigested fish soup to percolate for its babies
