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 baby geese had imprinted on Lorenz. In the process of filial imprinting, the imprinting of offspring on their parents, there is a critical period for learning that is irreversible once something has been imprinted upon. The hatchling geese imprinted on Conrad Lorenz, and nothing could de-imprint them.