Being a good mother isn’t always easy in the world of wildlife. With all the
elements to overcome in the wild – finding enough food, fending off predators –
it’s hard enough without a fragile new little baby to contend with. A mother has
to invest a great deal of time and energy getting her young off to a successful
start, and she is often the sole provider. So here is a nod to these hardworking
wildlife moms and the painstaking effort put into supplying the next generation
of imperiled animals with the resources and skills needed to make for a
prosperous start.
To birth and begin to raise young, mother northern fur seals haul out of the water onto beaches
called rookeries or natal sites where they were born. The female gives birth to
a single pup, and the bond between them is crucial: In a sea of seals, a single
pup can get easily lost. Hundreds of thousands of seals can crowd into the
rookery at a time. Among such masses, the mother and pup must learn each other’s
voice and smell to find one another after prolonged hunting forays where the
mother goes off to feed at sea for days at a time. Studies have shown that the
mother and pup can even recognize each other’s voices after a four-year
separation!
Alligator
mothers will scout out a secluded section of bank and build a nest of mud,
sticks and vegetation where they’ll lay between 20 and 50 eggs. The rotting
“compost pile” she has created produces enough heat to keep the eggs warm. Once
they’re born, momma will carry the babies to the water in her jaws for
protection against testy males and other predators. When all is clear, she’ll
tenderly open her maw and let the young take to the water. When no threats are
present, she may also carry the babies on her back or head.
In the hidden cliffs of her territory, the mother mountain
goat introduces her young to the vertical world that is home. Within
an hour of birth, the kid will already try climbing the sheer cliffs under
mother’s watchful eye. After rearing one to two kids, momma will join a group of
nursing females and continue to nurse for a month, though the kid will remain
close for the first year. The mother mountain goat goes to great lengths to make
sure her baby is safe from danger: She will stand over it in a faceoff with a
predator and, when the going is especially steep, she’ll place herself below her
young to prevent a free-fall.
Polar bear mothers, which almost
always produce two cubs at a time, dig a den deep in the snow, protected from
the elements, where they will birth their young during December or January. In
the months preceding birth, the momma puts on as much fat as she can to prepare
for her winter fast – more than 220 pounds! Once her cubs are born, the three
bears stay in a hibernation-like state for the rest of winter’s coldest months.
Under the snow, she nurses and keeps her cubs warm. While they grow, she loses
weight with the constant production of 33 percent fat-rich milk that the cubs
need to survive. The mother will undergo a fast of up to eight months, using up
the last of her reserves for the sake of her growing cubs. Once they emerge from
the burrow, the mother immediately needs to eat, and from her, the cubs learn to
hunt.
Jaguars
After a 100-day gestation, a female jaguar gives birth to up to four completely helpless
cubs. She’ll tuck them away in a secluded burrow where they are protected from
other jaguars, since males looking to breed can be a threat to cubs. A den
mother like this big cat is one not many would want to contend with, and she
will fight off big males if she has to. Once the little jaguars graduate from
their mother’s milk after a few months, she will hunt and regurgitate food for
them. Soon she’ll start to teach them how to hunt and protect themselves. After
around two years, they’ll move off to find their own territory, although the
females will stick close to mom.
Once pregnant, the female North Atlantic right whale will migrate about 1,400
miles south to breeding off the coast of Georgia and Florida. There she births a
400 pound calf the length of a large pickup truck. With her calf, the mother
right whale makes the long journey north to the rich waters of the Bay of Fundy
where they’ll feed together for the summer. Right whales are doting mothers. The
tight-knit bond between her and her calf is played out in an array of close
contact motions: the calf will ride on its mother’s back, the two will engage in
head bumping, and the mother will even roll over to embrace the baby in her
flippers. The right whale calf will continue nursing and is dependent on its
mother for a year before it’s weaned.
With the support of AAVS's TLC
for Chimps campaign, Jimmy and Candy will be able to celebrate this Mother's
Day - and every day - together. Thank you for bringing them together.
One of our Human Resources team members rescued a local cat who just had kittens and they are quite simply the cutest little things!
Two of our video team members went over to momma's house with a few cameras and came back with this adorable footage of the kittens playing in their crate while momma lounges about...have a look!
As I watch these kittens I'm reminded of me when I was a child tugging at my mother's jacket trying to get her attention; patience certainly is a virtue...
Be sure to let your mother know how much you appreciate her this Mother's Day and we hope you enjoy this video.
The Greatest Mother's Day Gift of All
For the 9 million mothers who have their young ones stolen from them, please ditch dairy products.
