We celebrate Mother's Day every year to show our appreciation and gratitude towards our mothers for all the hard work they do every day to take care of us. Less noticed by us is how extraordinary animal mothers are in taking care of their offspring, and the extremes to which they will go to ensure their young's safety.
There are countless examples of extreme mothers in the natural world, and there are a few that come to mind automatically. Lionesses band together in nursery-like groups in order to better protect their cubs, for when the pride is taken over by a new male he will kill the old male's cubs so the females will go back into heat. This will enable the new male to start his own bloodline in the pride, but regardless of who the father is the mothers will fight savagely against the larger aggressors to save her cubs. Polar bears give birth during the winter months in hibernation, and sometimes have to feed their cubs milk even though the mother has not eaten herself in many months. Salmon travel by instinct against river currents for miles to the spawning ground, where they themselves had been born. Against all odds, most survive the journey and of those survivors most will die after the spawning is complete, giving the ultimate sacrifice for the next generation. Probably the most incredible, chimpanzees are such socially oriented creatures that they will adopt orphan chimps and raise them as their own. These mothers seem to recognize that the survival of their young, regardless of the father or if it is even their own, is essential in the continuation of their species.
A few weeks ago, I witnessed a mother and her ducklings in a courtyard between two buildings. Apparently, the mother Mallard had nested there, and has been doing so for years now. The building staff were aware of this situation, and provided crushed corn and fresh water for the ducks, although they should be able to find everything they need in the underbrush of the courtyard.
I spoke to one of those staff members as he was refilling the fresh water tubs, and he said that there was no need to disturb the nest and attempt to move the ducklings until needed. Usually, they wait until the ducklings are 4 weeks old, and then a group of 5 to 7 adults help shuffle the family out of the courtyard and down to the nearby lake, where the youngsters can grow up on their own in their natural habitat. Below are pictures I took of the group when I got the chance.
This is a paper which was taped to the courtyard entrance. I think this notice was an excellent idea, so visitors know that there are ducks present, and how the local staff are taking care of them.
This is a view of the mother duck with some of her babies. The nest is behind her by about twelve feet in a bush, and there is a path in the vines that allows the group to enter and exit their home.
The staff members placed the plastic tub in the courtyard and made sure it was filled with fresh water. Here, you can see some of the ducklings already expressing their instinctive desire to swim.
"From the crawling ant to the leaping antelope" ("The Lion King", 1994), every mother raises her children a little differently. Some are more distant, such as spiders, who produce hundreds of young at a time, or sharks, who will sometimes attempt to eat their young after birth. These are more like clockmakers, who simply set life into motion and let natural selection take it from there. Others are more invested, such as kangaroos, who as marsupials carry in a stomach pouch their joey until fully weaned, or rhinoceroses, who have an 18 month gestation period. We as humans would fall into the latter category for the most part, since in general we house and feed our young until they go to college and move out on their own.
An excellent website that reports on newly made moms is www.zooborns.com. They are either sought after by, or seek out themselves zoos and aquariums around the world which have just acquired new animal babies to their collection. I felt a need to make a shout-out to their site because it offers an excellent bridge between people who may not be the biggest animal lovers but can appreciate an adorable baby (animal) picture, and the cute accounts of young wildlife. Plus, I find the site so enjoyable, that I made ZooBorns my homepage.
