Motherhood in the wild looks different from one species to the next — drastically different. That’s because animals have all kinds of amazing in-born habits and modes of survival that impact how they care (or don’t care) for their young. Being a mother in the animal kingdom can be the most terrifying, complex, and sometimes, pitiful part of life. Indeed, some mothers have attracted attention for neglecting their offspring, and others for abandoning them. There are also mothers for whom feeding on their young ones is just another day of their lives.
When it comes to the animals on the list below, none of whom are going to win “Mother of the Year”, their babies have a much tougher start in life. Which of the following do you think is the worst mother in the animal kingdom?
#Cuckoos
And then we come to the cuckoo, the undisputed queen of absent parenting and truly one of the worst moms in the animal kingdom. Not only does this sneaky bird lay its eggs in the nests of other birds, forcing them to do the hard work of hatching the chick, but they don’t even come back to see the fruit of their womb when it has hatched, leaving all the work of rearing the chick to whichever bird they dumped their egg on in the first place.
Unfortunately for her victims, the cuckoo chick is hardly a grateful adoptee. Instead, the chick hatches earlier and grows faster than the other bird’s real brood, forcing the smaller chicks out of the nest to Ԁɪᴇ.
#Skinks
Lizards aren’t noted generally for their affectionate mothering, but even among this rather cold-hearted (and cold-blooded) group, the long-tailed skink has to take the prize for the worst mom.
Reptiles aren’t known for being the most affectionate, and their lack of warm, fuzzy feelings extends to their offspring. Should mummy skink happen to lay her eggs when there are lots pf predators in the area, then she will simply eat her young before they even have a chance to hatch. Experts say that this is because she is trying to save both her young from the worse fate of being eaten by predators later, as well as restoring her own strength so she can have another go at breeding, at a more fortuitous time and place.
#Pandas
“Panda moms are perfect, until they’re blessed with two. Twins are hard, so they’ll ditch one – it’s terrible. And true!” I know, it’s hard to think anything negative about these adorably cuddly critters, but the reality is that they’re pretty negligent parents. In fact, despite the fact that pandas often have twins, they almost never care for more than one cub. The mom will choose the weaker of the two babies and start ignoring him or her in favor of the stronger sibling.
To be fair, it’s not entirely her fault; bamboo is notoriously low in nutrients, so it’s near impossible for a mother to make enough milk to feed two cubs. Even so, it’s a harsh decision for a mother to make. At least the cubs abandoned in zoos are still cared for since zookeepers don’t have to worry about limited milk production like the cub’s natural mothers do.
#Black Eagles
Fighting children can drive any mama mad, but black eagles take it to the extreme. It’s not completely uncommon for baby eagles to peck at the weakest sibling, sometimes ᴋɪʟʟɪпɡ it. But mama eagle doesn’t intervene. She lets the siblings have at it. It’s pretty brutal, but it’s survival of the fittest. And mama bird is not here for the squawking.
#Rabbits
If there ever was a competition of the best mother-child quality time, then I guess rabbit moms wouldn’t have even qualified to enter the contest. A rabbit mother, as soon as she gives birth, packs up and leaves. Later she may stop by for sometime to feed her kids, and see how they are doing. These short visits may continue for about 25 days, after which her kids are left to fend for themselves.
Scientists say rabbit mothers have adopted this behavior of abandoning their kids in order to minimize the likelihood of predators locating their burrows and chomping on the helpless litter. Somehow, they guess that the odds of Ԁʏɪпɡ out of starvation are less than becoming snacks for predators.
To be continued…
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