Jungle Moms

I’m hooked on the Internet when it comes to viewing wild animals, moms and their little ones are the best.   I love all the critters, the giant pandas who frolic in the snow or gently swing in panda hammocks.  They tussle with the little ones and they all look like they are having so much fun. I was  excited when the guy came along and picked up the baby sloth from the road and deposited him on the tree by his mom.  She was on her way to get him but it was taking waaaay toooo long.  My all time favorite is the momma otter floating on her back lovingly holding her day old kit on her tummy while they float around. She nuzzles him with such tenderness.   

I’m guessing most of you saw the mother orangutan who didn’t know how to feed her new baby.  In a stroke of genius one of the caretakers brought her own baby to work and proceeded to sit down in front of the orangutan enclosure and breastfeed her own baby while the orangutang sat and watched. Once the orangutan saw how it was done the little orangutang bundle had lunch from his own momma.  

Orangutans have the longest childhood dependence on the mother of any animal in the world, even more than elephants! The babies nurse until they are about six years of age. This little guy really needed to figure out where lunch came from.  

African elephants have a gestation period of 22 months, which is the longest of any land animal. The newborn calf weighs around 260 pounds.  These facts alone should award the elephant mom a star in  her crown. Elephants live in a matriarchal  society and a baby elephant is protected and nurtured not only by his mom, but by all the aunties in the herd.   

I love explore.org when it is time to watch the bears at Brooks Falls catch salmon.  It is delightful to watch the momma bears catch a fish in the air and share it with their cubs.  I remember when a pair of cubs were swept down stream by the rushing water and the momma bear dropped fish and took off running downstream to catch the little guys.   

I appreciate the lionesses, they have a big job,  not only do they have to look after their cubs but they also have to do the hunting to feed the pride.  The females  are smaller and quicker than the bigger males and that makes them better hunters. It might have something to do with the fact that the males like to sleep almost 20 hours a day.  It’s lucky there aren’t any housekeeping duties or the lionesses would be in charge of that too.   

Female cubs normally stay with their family pride forever. At around two years of age male cubs are forced to leave when their family members chase them away.  The young lions either find another pride or join a bachelor pride.  I wonder who does the hunting in that group?

On the other hand, male killer whales are mama’s boys. A son will trail after his mother, grabbing bits of fish and other food, throughout his life, even as his sisters grow up and have calves of their own. This neediness comes at a significant cost to mom, who forgoes having additional children to look after her boy. 

The researchers suggest mom’s favoritism toward her boys evolved because of the particular social structure of these pods. When a daughter reproduces, her calves stay in the same group as her and her mom and therefore compete with the rest for food and attention. By contrast, a son doesn’t bring more mouths into the group—he mates with females in passing pods who then go on to raise offspring in their own social units. His kids are thus someone else’s problem. 

I’m not too crazy about the killer whale thing, I think those boys are just too spoiled. 

But mom’s will be moms.