In the human world, families come in all different shapes and sizes. Now, three bald eagles living on the Mississippi River are showing the world that this is true in the animal kingdom as well.

It all started back in 2012, when a female eagle known as Hope mated with a male named Valor I, who was unfortunately not able to face his new responsibilities.

“Valor I wasn’t a very good partner or father,” the National Audubon Society said. “He was irresponsible about incubating the eggs and feeding the eaglets, which were really his only two jobs.”

This led to Hope upgrading to a new mate, which is how she ended up with Valor II. However, instead of ditching Valor I altogether, the three of them stuck together as a trio raising their babies together. This is incredibly rare since male bald eagles are typically extremely territorial, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called this unconventional arrangement “cooperative nesting.”

Unfortunately, tragedy hit the family in March of 2017, when Hope was killed in an attack by other eagles. By September of that year, however, Hope had been replaced in the trio by a new female named Starr.

“Having more than two birds assist with feeding and rearing young isn’t all that uncommon, but it is interesting to see that these males seem to prefer the teamwork approach to raising a family,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement. “A new nesting season is underway and the trio are the proud parents of three eggs.”

The eagles work in shifts much like humans do to ensure that everyone is properly cared for.

“During any given shift change at the nest, the relieving adult will land in the nest and nudge the incubator to take over duties,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added. “If nudging doesn’t work, then more aggressive moves such as walking on the tail feathers or back of the unrelenting incubator is conducted.”

If this still doesn’t work, the eagles try and kill each other with kindness.

“If still no movement, the reliever will snuggle against the incubator and wait for an attitude change,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded.

This just goes to show that animals really aren’t that different from us after all! Find out more about this eagle family in the video below.