Mammals as Parents
Bringing Up A Wild Child
The wild is a dangerous place in which to rear young. Mammals approach parenting in a multitude of ways to give their offspring a chance of survival. Some animals keep close ties with their young for years. For others, parenthood involves just a few days. Often the female raises the family alone, although other species get help. Animal parents cannot be judged as good or bad by human standards. They act entirely on instinct.
Extended Families
In some cases, animal mothers have a back-up team to help with the new infants. In packs of wild dogs, such as wolves and jackals, only the dominant ‘alpha’ couple produces a litter of pupsin any one breeding season. until the female is able to leave the nursery den, her mate brings food to her. Other pack members also rally round, sharing the hunting and feeding the young with predigested meat.
Short-term care and part-timers
Small rodents such as water volves nurse their young for a mere 10 days and after weaning, take virtually no interest in their offspring. However these little animals develop quickly and have an extremely short lifespan, so their brief parenting is perfectly adequate. Other mammals, such as deer and hares, offer only minimal mothering. Female hares virtually abandon their young a day or two after birth, visiting them just once a day at sunset to nurse them.
A long childhood
Young animals that stay with their parents for longest tend to belong to large species that mature slowly. these include whales and the big apes such as cimpanzees and gorillas, which breast-feed their offspring for several years and provide a thorough eduction in life skills. Young female chimpanzees are taught childcare by older females and may even practise on junior siblings.
Safety-conscious parents
Moving the young around to protect them from predators is a common safety measure. Cat species of all types, including tigers and pumas, regularly transport their cubs from den especially if they have been disturbed. So, too, do foxes, weasels, stoats and civets.
Taking Defensive Measures
Mammals in particular females can be ferociously protective of the their young. A female polar bear’s worst enemy is a male polar bear who will kill and eat her cub if he can. Mother bears of all species may fight to the death trying to drive away a marauding male. Also any animal that threatens the pup of a mother walrus is warned off with angry roars or is aggressively attacked.
Built-in baby carrier
No mammal mother keeps her infant closer than the kangaroo. For months she carries it nestled in the safety of her pouch. The young kangaroo or joey, does not even have to come outside to feed. When it does emerge , it stays with its mother, sticking its head inside her pouch to suckle, long after it is too big to be carried.
