What Animal is the Best Mother?
Cheetahs and gorillas have some of the strongest maternal instincts, according to a National Zoo biologist
- By Megan Gambino
- Smithsonian.com, May 04, 2011, Subscribe
Parenting styles have been and always will be a subject of hot debate. But rather than judge who among our own kind is the fittest mother, we turn our gaze to the entire animal kingdom and ask, what animal is the best mother?
Props could certainly go to elephant mothers who endure staggering 22-month pregnancies. Also, polar bears. A female polar bear has to double her weight or else her body might absorb the fetus. (Both animals made Animal Planet’s list of “Top 10 Animal Moms.”) Then there are lions, who make especially benevolent mothers. In fact, each lactating mother in a pride will allow any offspring, including other females’ cubs, to nurse from her.
With so many factors to weigh, I took the question to Craig Saffoe, a biologist and curator of the Great Cats and Bears units at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. “I think if you are looking at who are the best moms, you’d have to think about who protects their young, who ensures that their young survive to independence,” says Saffoe. “And then there is also just how they deal with the infants. Infants are so fragile, and not every animal is great with that.”
Saffoe is surprised by how good some animal mothers are though. “When you watch a crocodile, whose jaws are specifically built to crush bone, picking up these babies very gently and bringing them to water and taking care of them, it’s just phenomenal,” he says. “That maternal instinct kicks in.”
Gazelles, he says, are just as attentive, but in a different way. “Their ability to take care of and ensure survival in their young is to stash them and intentionally walk away from them. To onlookers, it almost seems like they don’t even care about their babies, when in reality, they are trying to divert any attention from potential predators onto themselves,” says Saffoe.
Of course, even if that maternal instinct is there, it is up to the individual animal whether or not to listen to it. “It’s just like with people. There are great moms, and then there are not so great moms,” says Saffoe. In April 2005, Zazi, one of the National Zoo’s female cheetahs, gave birth to six cubs, one of which was stillborn. “We watched her care for that cub as though it were alive. She was grooming it and moving it along with all the live cubs. That spoke to how good a mother she really is,” he says. “It’s being a good mother beyond what is reasonable, because in the wild that would not benefit her to try to care for that cub. It could potentially hurt her to expend the energy necessary to keep moving it along with all the others. Most carnivore moms in that situation would consume the offspring.” Saffoe admits a bias. He oversaw the breeding and birth of the cheetahs (and has cheetah tattoos). But Zazi, he says, has to be the best mother he has ever seen.
“Does that mean that cheetahs are the best moms? It is so subjective. I could also tell you stories that I’ve heard from colleagues who have said that their cheetahs have turned out to be terrible moms, to the point that they have either had to cross-foster their young or completely hand-rear them because the moms just weren’t paying attention to the cubs,” he says. “It’s totally individual.”
That said, Saffoe did make an argument for gorillas. “I’ve watched a gorilla nurture her young, and I don’t know if it’s just so close to home with primates, but if I had to pick a best mom, I think that the gorilla is a great mom,” he says. Gorillas are rather transient and though they learn to walk at five to six months old, the safest way for them to travel is on mom’s back. Young gorillas nurse until they are three to four years old and share their mom’s nest up until age six. “I can’t think of a case of a gorilla that I’ve heard being a neglectful or bad mom,” says Saffoe. “I can’t think of one.”
Subscribe now for more of Smithsonian's coverage on history, science and nature.
Comments (7)
I always hate it when Lionesses get credit for being good moms. While it is really cool that they all share on nursing duty, they also sit by in idle and let new male members slaughter their offspring... That'd be like a single mother sitting idly by while her new beau strangled the kid from a previous marriage. Doesn't really strike me as good mom material. Just saying...
Posted by Chanelle on December 21,2012 | 12:13 PM
Check out the Decoraheagles eagle mom; she gets my vote!
Posted by Judie Hockel on May 13,2012 | 06:12 PM
All--or nearly all--animals are good mothers. And some are good fathers. I lived across a creek from a farm that had goats. The billy goat would protect his family from predators. When his callous owner sold the female and young goats the father would bleat almost constantly for his family. It was heartbreaking.
Posted by Herman King on May 13,2012 | 05:01 PM
I am sorry, but Mai-ling (is that correct?), Tai Shan's mother, was the most incredible mother I have ever seen. She looked after Tai Shan with total dedication. I remember being at the zoo an afternoon when Tai Shan climbed a tree in their enclosure. All the zoo visitors were concerned that he might have climbed too far up and couldn't get down. He seemed to be thinking about it. Mai-Ling (?)was equally concerned. She walked over to the tree and went around it a couple of times (and possibly said something to the infant Tai Shan). A little later, when Tai Shan climbed down successfully, she went back to the tree, checked him over to see that he was okay, and then went back to whatever she was doing. I remember Tai Shan pulling on her mother's ears, when she was a tiny baby, to wake her up in the middle of the night, because he was hungry, and Mai-Ling would turn over and nurse him and stroke him. She was a wonderful mother.
Posted by Eda Valero-Figueira on May 13,2012 | 04:40 PM
I have always remembered a passage in Alexander Lake's "Killers in Africa", where he watched a gorilla family settling in for the night. First, the parents gathered and shaped a nest in the crook of a tree, while the offspring continued playing below. Then the kids were called and told to head up to bed. One that was a bit slow was swatted on the backside as he ascended. Then the parents sat at the base of the tree, idly sharing a few shoots. The female would peel a shoot, then nudge the male (who was leaning against the tree with his eyes closed), and he would open his mouth for the shoot. They cuddled against each other for a few moments and then she went up to the nest and he positioned himself on guard duty. Lake said he suddenly realized he had tears running down his face, and wondered how anyone could ever shoot one of these magnificent creatures. I read this over 60 years ago, and have never forgotten it - and gorillas are still being killed.
Posted by Jean Boling on May 13,2012 | 02:50 PM
Great piece for Mother's Day. I learned a lot and can pass on this knowledge as well. Thank you!
Posted by Cheryl Brown on May 13,2012 | 09:49 AM
Great White Shark. Unsurprisingly, nobody has lived to say otherwise.
Posted by Sandy lee on May 6,2011 | 11:48 AM