Amazing animal moms
There's nothing quite like a mother's love, and moms from the animal kingdom are no exception.
Elephant
The first mom on our list earns her spot for giving birth to the biggest babies on Earth — we’re talking an average of 200 pounds here! Female elephants deserve a prize for enduring a 22-month pregnancy. The calves are initially born blind, forcing them to rely on their trunks for navigation and discovery, but fortunately, they live in a matriarchal society.
Once the baby is born, the other ‘ladies’ in the herd all lend a hand, including grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and even cousins. These full-time babysitters are called ‘Allomothers,’ and they help in every aspect of rearing the young calves — so in this case, it really does take a village to raise an elephant!
Koala
Never agree to an eating competition with a female koala, as she only dines on one thing — highly poisonous eucalyptus leaves. Her digestive tract can tolerate this otherwise deadly treat thanks to bowels that are packed with special bacteria that detoxify the leaves.
Mother koala with a baby on her back, on a eucalyptus tree.
Babies (joeys) aren’t born with these superpowers (not to mention a lack of ears, eyes, and fur), but Momma Koala comes to the rescue and helps them build up their tolerance by feeding them her own feces. Guess this puts a whole new spin on threatening to wash someone’s mouth out with soap.
Once the joeys are born, they spend about six months inside their mother’s pouch feeding on milk and forming their missing parts. But this is a mom who won’t lose any sleep while nurturing — the female koala gets about 22 hours of shut-eye a day — that’s nearly 90 percent of her life spent snoozing!
Alligator
The female alligator has got to have one of the ‘greenest’ pregnancies on this side of the ozone. Her nest is a heap of rotting vegetation (the ultimate compost pile!) that produces heat so she doesn’t have to sit on her eggs.
A West African crocodile newborn baby is pictured just after hatching from the egg during the birth of 3 babies crocodile at the Aquatis, the largest freshwater aquarium-vivarium in Europe, in Lausanne, Switzerland
Scientists use special thermometers to monitor the two-month incubation period in these nests, and the heat does more than bring these babies to fruition. If the temperature is less than 88 degrees, break out the pink, but if it tops 91, it’s a boy!
Once the babies are born, the mothers carry them around in their jaw for protection, assisting them to the water, where they will spend their first years eating fish, insects, snails, and crustaceans.
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