Do Animals Feel Love For Their Babies?

Expert’s answer:

Do animals feel love for their babies?

Animals do exhibit behaviors that can be interpreted as love or affection towards their offspring. Many species of animals, including mammals, birds, and even insects, display nurturing behaviors towards their young. For example, in his book “The Descent of Man,” Charles Darwin observed the love of a female dog for her puppies and noted that animals of one species can express sympathy for animals of another species. Mother animals often fiercely protect and care for their young, nurturing them, keeping them close, and teaching them survival skills.

It is important to note that the concept of love in animals may not be exactly the same as human love. Animal behaviors are driven by instinct and survival instincts, and their emotional experiences may differ from ours. However, the bond between a mother animal and her offspring is often strong and can be seen as a form of love or affection.

It is also worth mentioning that animals can form attachments and show affection towards other members of their species or even different species. For example, some animals form long-term mating pairs, indicating a form of attachment and care for each other. Additionally, animals can also show affection towards humans, as they can sense and respond to human emotions and energy.

In conclusion, while the concept of love in animals may differ from human love, many animals do exhibit behaviors that can be interpreted as love or affection towards their babies. The bond between a mother animal and her offspring is often strong and characterized by nurturing, protection, and care.

Videos

📹 Best of: Animal Moms Love Their Babies | Mothers Day | Love Nature

Best of animal moms loving and bonding with their animal babies is just what you need this Mother’s Day!! Moms are the givers of …

Source (Youtube): Love Nature  ·  👀 108797  ·  Created: 3 years ago


📹 Do dogs know how to be gentle with babies?

Canines are smitten with babies and can form strong connections because of the amount of time spent together. Both a baby and …

Source (Youtube): What’s Buzzing  ·  👀 8563  ·  Created: 1 year ago

Images

Books

Beyond Words: What Animals Think and FeelBeyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel
Author: Carl Safina
Year: 2016
Description: Travelling to the threatened landscape of Kenya to witness struggling elephant families work out how to survive poaching and drought, then on to Yellowstone National Park to observe wolves sort out the aftermath of one pack’s personal …
The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around DogsThe Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs
Author: Patricia McConnell, Ph.D.
Year: 2009
Description: Since we each speak a different native tongue, a lot gets lost in the tr
anslation. This marvelous guide demonstrates how even the slightest changes in our voices and in the ways we stand can help dogs understand what we want.
Catwatching: Why Cats Purr and Other Feline Mysteries ExplainedCatwatching: Why Cats Purr and Other Feline Mysteries Explained
Author: Desmond Morris
Year: 2011
Description: This book, the first in the popular Watching series, explains everything from why cats purr to why we say it’s raining cats and dogs. 26 black-and-white photographs.
What Dogs KnowWhat Dogs Know
Author: Juliane Bräuer
Year: 2022
Description: In a total of ten chapters, Juliane Bräuer and Juliane Kaminski present the results of the most important scientific studies of the last twenty years on dog cognition.
One Amazing ElephantOne Amazing Elephant
Author: Linda Oatman High
Year: 2017
Description: In this heartwarming novel, a girl and an elephant face the same devastating loss—and slowly realize that they share the same powerful love.
Connecting Animals and Children in Early ChildhoodConnecting Animals and Children in Early Childhood
Author: Patty Born Selly
Year: 2014
Description: This book examines the reasons why children should interact and connect with real animals, and it identifies the rich learning that results.

Pinterest

Quora

Quora Digest – Top Stories on the topic of the post!⚡


Can animals be grateful?

Can animals be grateful?

🧑 Rachel Fefer  ·  Created: 02.03.2020  ·  Updated: 09.06.2020

Hooter was a grateful little owletBack in college I got a desperate 5 AM call from my friend, Becky. She knew I’d worked with birds as a vet tech and asked for my help with an “injured bird who was freaking out.” He’d flown into her screen door then panicked when his claw stuck.I got there and saw a little fluff-ball thrashing around. This was my f…

☝ Voted: 2351  ·  💬 25  ·  👀 46075  ·  🔄 35


Do animals grieve?

Do animals grieve?

🧑 Adriana Heguy&nbsp
; ·  Created: 26.02.2016  ·  Updated: 27.02.2016

I would like to start by quoting Marc Bekoff [1] who is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a leading scientist studying animal emotion and animal cognition:“When animals express their feelings they pour out like water from a spout. Animals’ emotions are raw, unfiltered, and uncontrolled. Their joy is the purest and most contagious …

☝ Voted: 615  ·  💬 26  ·  👀 30607  ·  🔄 1


Do animals love their offspring the way humans do? If yes, which ones?

Do animals love their offspring the way humans do? If yes, which ones?

🧑 Sunshine Aspic  ·  Created: 15.03.2018  ·  Updated:

I have no doubt that most female and some male species love their babies deeply, especially when the babies are very young. With animals, I think nature kind of releases them from the extreme bond they have for the baby but it’s been shown that years later they remember them when reunited.I think it’s very arrogant that humans disregard the animal …

☝ Voted: 45  ·  💬 12  ·  👀 12475  ·  🔄 0


How do animals help each other?

How do animals help each other?

🧑 Sugar Bouche  ·  Created: 08.02.2019  ·  Updated: 04.08.2020

Animals are intelligent and sensitive beings, they each have their own unique personality. They have the capacity to feel pain, suffering, empathy, happiness and joy.“A man finds a goose that was shaking with cold stuck to a pole in Montana. As he got closer he realized, wrapped up in her wings, was a tiny puppy she was shielding from the freezing …

☝ Voted: 465  ·  💬 9  ·  👀 61813  ·  🔄 52


How does a feral cat deal with losing her babies because a human trapped her and left her babies behind? The babies were found and sent to animal care.

How does a feral cat deal with losing her babies because a human trapped her and left her babies behind? The babies were found and sent to animal care.

🧑 Space Admiral Steve Jones   ·  Created: 19.10.2020  ·  Updated:

The mother cats are traumatized when people take their babies.We can’t praise cats for their intelligence, their ability to bond, share affection and love, and their loyalty to others, then pretend that they don’t care when we steal their kittens as thoughtlessly as plucking wild flowers from the side of the road.That’s why people should always lea…

☝ Voted: 1424  ·  💬 6  ·  👀 39449  ·  🔄 20


Reddit

The 5 most popular posts on Reddit on the topic of the post!⚡



⚡The best articles from third-party resources on the topic: Do animals feel love for their babies?, collected by our team⚡


The Many Ways Animals Teach Us Love, Compassion and Empathy🌎 Animal Bonds – Achieve More Together: Learn Animal-Led Meditation
https://animal-bonds.com/the-many-ways-animals-teach-us-love-compassion-and-empathy/

The Many Ways Animals Teach Us Love, Compassion and Empathy

Annotation: Animals demonstrate love and compassion towards their offspring, family members, friends, and mates. Kestrels have a special way of taking care of orphaned chicks. Rats will adopt and care for other rat pups. Chimpanzees have displayed empathy for a wounded or dying comrade. Some species, such as the green sea turtle, have been observed doing so over thousands of years. Scientists are still debating how this compassion is triggered in each specific species.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars

Author: ABOUT THE AUTHOR JAMIE LEE  ·  Category: Animal, Animal Reiki, Compassion, Kindness, Meditation, Reiki  ·  Published: 04-06-2022  ·  Updated: 08-06-2022  ·  Size: 9722 chr


Did You Know This About These Animal Mothers?🌎 PETA
https://www.peta.org/features/animal-mothers/

Did You Know This About These Animal Mothers?

Annotation: Animal mothers deserve recognition for their love and care for their babies, but many industries exploit them by taking them away from each other. Elephants, rats, mice, pigs, cows, alligators, crocodiles, and dolphins are examples of animals that form strong bonds with their offspring. In some cases, workers forcibly impregnate cows on farms and take away their calves shortly after birth to steal the milk for human consumption. Rats and mice are subject to painful and pointless tests and are purposely bred to suffer from debilitating conditions. Alligators and crocodiles are excellent mothers who diligently protect their eggs and nests from predators. Cows and their calves suffer from extreme distress when they are separated, and some mothers mourn the loss of their babies on their own terms. D
olphins and alligators typically stay with their mothers for three to six years, learning how to avoid danger and navigate their aquatic home.

Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars

Author: PETA.ORG  ·  Published: 25-04-2023  ·  Updated: 09-05-2023  ·  Size: 6509 chr


Do our pets ever really love us – or do they just stick around for the food?🌎 the Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jul/16/do-our-pets-ever-really-love-us-or-do-they-just-stick-around-for-the-food

Do our pets ever really love us – or do they just stick around for the food?

Annotation: The author reflects on the death of their cat Dustin, who lived his entire 11 years in terror of being mauled to death by two pet dogs off the lead. They miss him a lot, but it was not his fault. The article discusses the concept of pet love and how it is regulated by brain hormones such as vasopressin and oxytocin. The ancient Greeks divided love into four categories: storge (store-gae), eros (erotic love), philia (loyalty), and philautia (love for the self). Storge is familial love, and dogs exhibit a lot of this form of love for their owners. Studies show that most dogs actively choose proximity to humans and exhibit varying degrees of separation anxiety when their owners temporarily leave them. Blood pressure rates in dogs lower when they are being stroked by their owners, which is a form of storge that we share with one another. In all mammals, the production of this hormone spikes when individuals are sexually aroused, while it also rises when we see those that we love, particularly close family members. In dogs, this hormone surge is maintained through a cocktail of molecules that are absorbed in different ways by the brain. Studies of brain chemicals add further weight to this relationship. The author questions whether we ever truly understand what pets feel for us, but after a year of this topic swirling around in their head, the author shares where they got to.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0 stars

Author: JULES HOWARD  ·  Category: US news  ·  Published: 16-07-2019  ·  Updated: 16-12-2019  ·  Size: 8089 chr


Do Animals Fall in Love?🌎 Discover Magazine
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/do-animals-fall-in-love

Do Animals Fall in Love?

Annotation: Scientists are studying whether animals fall in love through brain scans, hormone production, and speed dating. They are cautioned against anthropomorphizing their animal subjects and assigning human traits and meaning where they dont belong. Understanding love in animals requires a solid grounding in how scientists define and measure love in humans. There are different theories about how to slice up the pie for this thing that we call love. Monogamy has been observed in all kinds of animals, from birds to beetles, and its typically related to the way those species reproduce. Some species, like big cats, can have multiple fathers for the same litter of cubs. Albatrosses keep coming back to the same partner for their whole lives, sometimes over 60 years, and there are rituals that look like love. There is not a perfect pattern to which species will be monogamous and which wont, but there are signs of increased chemical activity in certain areas of the brain.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0 stars

Author: KATE GOLEMBIEWSKI  ·  📩 [email protected]  ·  Category: Planet Earth Article  ·  Published: 14-02-2023  ·  Updated: 15-02-2023  ·  Size: 7317 chr


5 remarkable animal moms🌎 World Wildlife Fund
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/5-remarkable-animal-moms

5 remarkable animal moms

Annotation: The animal kingdom has extraordinary parents who take extraordinary steps to protect, nurture, and raise their young. Orangutan mothers stay with their young for six to seven years, teaching them where to find food, what and how to eat, and building a sleeping nest. Polar bear mothers give birth to twin cubs that stick by them for two years to learn survival skills in the cold climate. African elephants guide their young in a matriarchal society, adjusting the pace of the herd to keep stride and showing them how to nurse. Cheetah mothers raise their children in isolation, moving their litter every four days to prevent a build-up of smell that predators can track. Emperor penguins leave their eggs with a male to protect the fragile hard shell from the elements and return to the hatching site to regurgitate food to the newly hatched chicks. After 18 months of training as hunters, cheetah cubs form a sibling group that will stay together for another six months. The article highlights five outstanding animal mothers who go the extra mile for their children.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0 stars

Author: WORLDWILDLIFE.ORG  ·  Size: 2682 chr


Maternal instinct in the animal kingdom🌎 One Earth
https://www.oneearth.org/maternal-instinct-in-the-animal-kingdom/

Maternal instinct in the animal kingdom

Annotation: Mothers in the animal kingdom have a fierce and protective maternal instinct that goes to incredible lengths to care for their young. Elephants may be the most protective moms on the planet, with their herds of females and children usually traveling together in a circle. Kangaroos only emerge permanently from their mothers pouch at 10 months old, but for the next 8-11 months, they continue to periodically suckle from their mother. Pandas, at an average of 300 pounds, have to take a lot of care in protecting their tiny, helpless infants, which they cradle them alm
ost constantly until they are big enough to move around on their own. Octopuses keep their developing babies oxygenated and free of bacteria by fanning them with muscular organs called siphons. Dolphins nurse their young at least four times each hour for the first four to eight days, and mothers continue to nurse their calves for up to 18 months. Whales, such as bottlenose dolphin moms, create a slipstream that draws the youngsters alongside their mothers right from birth.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars

Author: ONEEARTH.ORG  ·  Size: 4757 chr


Humans aren’t the only ones that help out their adult kids — here’s why animals do it too🌎 ideas.ted.com
https://ideas.ted.com/humans-arent-the-only-ones-that-help-out-their-adult-kids-heres-why-animals-do-it-too/

Humans aren’t the only ones that help out their adult kids — here’s why animals do it too

Annotation: Parents should remain involved in the lives of their full-grown offspring, as many animals and humans do not cut off support the minute their offspring leaves. The trend of extended parental care is similar across species, with dangerous environments, food shortages, competition for territory, and pressure to find mates keeping young adults living at home. This trend has become the norm in the US, with 18-to-34-year-olds more likely to be living with their parents than with a romantic partner. In many countries in the Middle East, young adults live at home until marriage. The transition to adulthood is not a new phenomenon, with young people in the past swinging between periods of relative independence and phases of dependence when they returned to the parental home. Historian Steven Mintz writes that in the early US, young people did not enter adulthood at a very young age, and parents died early, education was often intermittent, and living arrangements were uncertain. Henry David Thoreau found footing as a writer and land surveyor by bringing babysitters as he continued to be involved with and supported by the family pencil business. Instead of criticizing helicopter parenting, critics should recognize that it can improve the future success and survival of offspring. The ecological term for these boosts is post-fledging care, and it is important for parents to provide support and training to their offspring.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars

Author: BARBARA NATTERSON-HOROWITZ MD  ·  Published: 05-03-2020  ·  Updated: 16-10-2022  ·  Size: 11798 chr


New research suggests cat and dog ‘moms’ and ‘dads’ really are parenting their pets – here’s the evolutionary explanation why🌎 Boise State News
https://www.boisestate.edu/news/2021/11/01/new-research-suggests-cat-and-dog-moms-and-dads-really-are-parenting-their-pets-heres-the-evolutionary-explanation-why/

New research suggests cat and dog ‘moms’ and ‘dads’ really are parenting their pets – here’s the evolutionary explanation why

Annotation: Anthropologist Shelly Volsche explores the phenomenon of child-free adults parenting pets. The current moment is unique in human history, and people are experiencing major changes in how they live, work, and socialize. People are actively choosing to focus on pets instead of children. The evolution of parenting and caregiving suggests that it is in our DNA and our ancestral history to help care for offspring. Alloparenting companion animals can offer a way to fulfill the evolved need to nurture while reducing the investment of time, money, and emotional energy.

Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars

Author: BRIANNE PHILLIPS  ·  Published: 01-11-2021  ·  Updated: 17-10-2023  ·  Size: 7884 chr


Nadia Lawson

Hi there, I'm Nadia and I'm a girl with a peculiar passion - I spend my days navigating the playful, furry world of ferrets. From their whimsical antics to their curious natures, I've dedicated my life to understanding these charming creatures. Through my blog, I hope to share insights from my ferret-filled life, creating a community for all who hold a soft spot for these wonderful weasels.

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  • Such an extraordinary, lovely article. Mothers of all species love their babies. However, these farmed animals fate is quite awful. They will all be slaughtered for “food” we don’t really need. I saw numbers painted on some of these beautiful, gentle beings. Their ability to have some freedom is now quite rare for farmed animals. We saw calves too, and all or almost all calves born into the dairy industry, small or large, are taken away from their mothers shortly after birth. Please let’s let them live a natural life, free from human harm. Let them live freely to be WHO they are, and not as products seen by humans as having a utility purpose that leads to their exploitation and demise. Every major health and nutrition organization supports the superior health benefits of a well-balanced vegan diet. They really do!! Extending kindness to all with whom we (must learn to) share our planet.

  • I wish even my mother could be like that but I am unlucky I have a strict mother I wish I could die I consider myself unlucky, it’s a request to every parent give your child the same love. otherwise the child be in depression like me and be in medication like me I see this article every night. I feel happy and cry

  • Unfortunately their babies get taken and slaughtered. In the dairy industry, babies are taken from their mothers immediately for slaughter so that we can drink the milk that was meant for them. Cows are kept permanently pregnant so we can keep stealing their milk. The mothers ache and cry gif their babies as evidenced in so much footage but we don’t care (or even know?) because it has been deliberately hidden from society so that the industry can continue to make $$$. It would be a much better world if people could challenge their own conditioning and brainwashing. 🥲

Tags: animals protect their, dog, animal kingdom, parental care, cute, animal moms, humans, mother, animal lover, empathy, affection, animals showing, child, do dogs, Youtube, pinterest, quora, reddit.

FAQ – 💬

❓ How do mother animals love their children?

Mother animals love their children as human mothers do. They will protect their young until their last breath. Aside from protecting them, animal moms show their love to their young by providing food for them, giving them milk, and by grooming them. They care for their young. That is why they protect their young.

❓ Do animals Love You?

Our pets sure seem to love us. Elephants appear to mourn their dead. These examples make a case for animals having emotional attachments, not unlike companionate love in humans. But there are also examples that seem like romantic love. For instance, albatrosses keep coming back to the same partner for their whole lives, sometimes over 60 years.

❓ How do animals cope with raising babies?

Animals the world over have some fascinating ways to cope with raising babies, and some of those practices prove shocking. We'll encounter a few parental systems that humans might envy, like having 24-hour babysitters or selfless dads who will travel miles to give baby much-needed water every day.

❓ Can animals experience romantic love?

Animal attachment love and romantic love. Whether animals can experience romantic love is unknown. But there is some evidence that they are capable of experiencing the same range of emotions as we can. The brains of many mammals are surprisingly similar to the human brain. Take as an example the brain of a cat.

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