History Main / DeliveryStork

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': In one episode Martin starts reminiscing about how he used to get through stakeouts by picturing his wife waiting for him back home. Frasier and Niles strongly object to [[ParentalSexualitySquick hearing about their dad's fantasies]], leading Martin to joke that he and his wife found the boys in wicker baskets by the river during a church picnic.

* Parodied in ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1742/ here]] (where the delivery stork intends to feed the baby to its own young), and [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1035/ here]] (where two storks are horrified to find themselves parents to a human baby). Later parodied in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfvqihFzPAU short]] about a hunter deliberately hunting them down who has accrued a multi-ethnic family of children. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zClca05WJ48 In another short]] the factory where babies are made has problems with pelicans pretending to be storks to steal and eat the babies. TheStinger also shows an [[PaperThinDisguise crocodile wearing a fake beak]] trying to sneak away after it sees a pelican getting caught.

The myth has mostly died down, to the point where [[UndeadHorseTrope TV is usually the only place you'll see kids who believe in "the stork"]]. Showing childbirth in the media hasn't been taboo since the 50's, so most children know babies come from the mother's body, just not how it got there in the first place. But then again, [[FridgeLogic it's also never explained where storks get babies either]]. Nonetheless, the symbolism of storks and babies has persisted to this day, where the image of a stork with a bundled baby hanging from its beak is still a symbol of pregnancy, childbirth, and babies. In FunnyAnimal related works, this trope may be invoked in spirit by depicting anthropomorphic storks working as midwives or in maternity wards, making this a type of AnimalOccupationStereotypes.

* Used as a joke in an uncut episode of '' Series/{{Friends}}''. It is in an episode (8-15) where Monica does not want to watch a birthing video with Rachel, because Monica already freaked out over the footage. When Rachel remarks that Monica also wants to have kids, Monica answers: "I do. But... the stork is gonna bring mine..."

* The WartimeCartoon "The Stork's Holiday" has a delivery stork complaining about a harrowing experience trying to deliver babies during the war, and [[TenMinuteRetirement contemplating retirement]] until [[TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack he gets a pep talk from his reflection]].

* Simon parodied this in ''[[WebVideo/YogscastMinecraftSeries YogLabs]]'' when they're trying to make a clone of him, which (due to the weird way the mod works) involves incubating an egg as the final step:

* A '40s ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'' strip has Dagwood telling Cookie about this, but then [[http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/blondie/images/uc03237u.jpg Alexander butts in…]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'', Fozzie has an ImagineSpot of storks in an airport-like operation. When he and Rolf accidentally mix up the destination cards, many babies end up going to the wrong places.

For those wondering exactly how storks became associated with pregnancy: The tradition apparently started in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain. The white stork was considered a symbol of happiness, fertility, and prosperity. Despite their large size, storks are also fairly unafraid of humans, and will readily nest on buildings where not disturbed. In Victorian England, they were even known to build their nests on top of chimneys, so the mythology of storks dropping human babies down to the hearth was made quite quickly.

For those wondering exactly how storks became associated with pregnancy: The tradition apparently started in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain. The white stork was considered a symbol of happiness, fertility, and prosperity. Storks were known to nest on chimney tops in England, so the mythology of storks dropping human babies down the chimney was made quite quickly.

For those wondering exactly how storks became associated with pregnancy: The tradition apparently started in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain. The white stork was considered a symbol of happiness, fertility, and prosperity. Storks were known to nest on chimney tops in England, so the mythology of storks dropping baby humans down the chimney was made quite quickly.

* In ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "[[Recap/EdEddnEddyS6E5IAmDaCuriousEd I Am Da Curious Ed]]", [[TheTalk when Sarah and Jimmy ask the curious question]], innocent, naive Ed shows he strongly believes in this trope, to the point where he flies like a stork and drops Eddy down a chimney.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', [[TheTalk when Sarah and Jimmy ask the curious question]], innocent, naive Ed shows he strongly believes in this trope, to the point where he flies like a stork and drops Eddy down a chimney.

* In another Pixar film, ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', judging by a painting on one of the courtroom's walls, it's implied that cars and other vehicles reproduce by getting baby cars that roll down to Earth on a golden highway coming from an ivory and gold factory in Heaven.

* In the WesternAnimation/{{Pixar short|s}} that accompanied ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'', ''Partly Cloudy'', this trope was used, and the question as to where the storks obtained the babies they delivered was answered: from living clouds who make them out of cloud fluff. The stork the short focuses on has the bad luck to work with a [[DarkIsNotEvil storm cloud]] who only makes dangerous animals. They're good friends, but the friendship gets ''really'' strained after the cloud makes a porcupine. And then Mr. Stormcloud shows off his (unfinished) ''[[ThreateningShark shark]]''... and the stork flies off to another cloud, only to return with a set of football armor, ready for more.

* In the ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', DVD commentary "Sword Art Offline", Yui asks how human babies are made. To get out of telling her the real truth, Kirito gives the stork explanation.

* A first-season ''Series/MadTV'' sketch involved a couple going to a fertility clinic but not understanding what sex was. Turns out they "prayed to the magical stork." They were quite disgusted to learn the truth.

* In ''WebComic/BrawlInTheFamily'' a stork with a bent beak and singed feathers quits the delivery service after having to deliver the Koopalings to Bowser. Yes, all seven at once.

* In ''WebComic/TonyComics'', one comic has Tony's dad try to feed him the delivery stork excuse only for him to poke holes in it, leading to his dad to try to distract him with ice cream.

* [[https://youtu.be/sZx76ptI3fY This]] ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fan comic sees someone claim that babies are delivered by [[FlyingPostman Pelippers]].

* There's also a strange (even for him!) Dr. Seuss book and film entitled ''The Hoober-Bloob Highway'' in which new babies are sent from ''space'' down a magical spiral-shaped highway. Before they're sent down, a creature named Hoober-Bloob lets them choose what species they want to be born as, where they'd like to grow up, and then gives them a briefing to prepare them for life. This is undoubtly the most convoluted fictional answer to the question "Where do babies come from?"