Animals look after their young

Posted in Animals, Nature, Psychology, Wildlife on Thursday, 16 June 2011

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This edited article about animal behaviour originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 970 published on 11 October 1980.

elephant, picture, image, illustration

A bull elephant guarding female and young elephants, by Bob Hersey

When a human baby is born today, it is surrounded with all the trappings of modern science. Every form of assistance is available to give a helping hand both at the birth and afterwards. In the animal world, too, there are creatures which act as midwives, whose role is to assist at the actual birth, nursemaids or minders. In many species, help, during birth and after, is almost as efficient and caring as that found in the human world.

It is amongst the largest land animals, elephants, that we find some of the most advanced forms of caring. It is very unusual for a female elephant in the wild to give birth alone. Usually the cow elephant retires into the bush accompanied by one or two females, who give her constant support.

There are many examples. Twenty years ago, Commander Lefevre, in charge of an elephant training station in Zaire, watched as three elephants disappeared into the bush. He followed them and witnessed a remarkable scene. For two hours the accompanying elephants comforted the pregnant cow as she heaved back and forth. Finally the baby elephant began to emerge. The commander watched as one of the “midwives”, realising that the cow-elephant was tired, helped by placing her trunk around the baby elephant and pulled it into the world.

One of the most unusual observations of this kind relates how two men were travelling through Tanganyika during World War One when they came across a group of elephants some 40 metres ahead. A cow elephant was lying on the ground in the process of giving birth; around her stood four young bulls, as if protecting her.

The men sounded their horn and immediately one of the bulls came aggressively towards the car. The pair retreated to the safety of a small hill from which they watched as the bull elephant lifted the car in the air with his trunk and let it drop with a sickening thud. He then walked around the car and bashed his head against the bonnet. He rejoined the group just as the baby elephant was born. The mother eventually rose to her feet and walked away with the calf following; the four young bulls brought up the rear.

It is commonly thought that birth in the animal world is far less traumatic than among humans. This is far from true: animals need as much help and comfort when giving birth as human mothers do. If animals are left to deal with the situation alone, the results can often prove fatal.

It is the practice amongst domestic cows to help when one of their herd is giving birth. This may only be due to curiosity, but this curiosity inevitably leads to something more positive. When the baby calf is born, the other females help to lick it clean. The mother eventually rises and drives them away in a jealous rage. The attendant cows, however, have provided protection for the young until the mother was able to stand. She in turn was forced more rapidly to her feet, so reducing the chances of any neglect of the new born calf.

In some instances actual assistance can be given during labour. In the Royal National Parks of Kenya in 1960, a warden described seeing four female rhinoceroses coming out of the forest. The one in the middle was heavy with calf, while the one behind was rubbing her flank with the side of its head and its horn. Three days later the rangers reported the birth of a rhinoceros calf in the area. Obviously the “midwives” had done a successful job.

Sometimes birth is an experience for a whole group – as in the case of the giraffes of the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Nine giraffes were seen standing in a circle, and in the middle lay a mother who had just calved. Within half an hour the baby was on its feet and began to move around the circle. As it did so each female giraffe nuzzled it in turn. Fifty metres away stood three male giraffes keeping at bay two hyaenas which, had the mother been alone, would certainly have attacked.

This kind of behaviour does not seem so surprising when found amongst the larger mammals. Yet it can be observed amongst smaller species, such as mice, rats and marmosets.

Experiments in West Germany in 1969 showed that, out of 40 litters, born to Egyptian spiny mice, no less than two-thirds of births were attended by midwives. The young are quite large and active soon after they are born, which makes birth quite difficult. The midwives help by biting the umbilical cord of each baby as it is born and lick and clean the babies, leaving the mother free to concentrate on producing the rest of the litter.

“Post-natal clinics” are strongly developed in the animal kingdom also. Amongst marmoset and tamarin monkeys of South America, the males of the group join with the females to help the mothers. Shortly after a birth the male will take over the care of the young. He carriers them round on his back, handing them back to the mother only for feeding. Older females also take a great deal of interest in the babies, as do their elder brothers and sisters.

Again in the Kruger Park, one naturalist reported seeing a female giraffe with her calf some 30 metres away; nearby was a shaggy wildebeest. The mother giraffe stalked to the centre of a road and turned towards her calf, expecting it to follow. The wildebeest butted the calf in an attempt to drive it towards its mother. The calf totally ignored its mother, only moving across the road in response to the wildebeest’s shepherding. All three finally moved off into the bush with the wildebeest nudging the baby behind its mother.

In the seas, those remarkable mammals the dolphins often take on the role of both midwife and nursemaid. An older female often helps by lifting the new-born baby to the surface to take its first breath. As the baby grows, she is the constant companion of both mother and calf.

There was the tale of a cat and a dachshund dog which were brought up together and which hunted rats together. When the cat had her first litter, the dachshund was often left in charge of the kittens. If one strayed, the dog gently nudged if back. He was indeed a model nursemaid.

Just as with humans there is undoubtedly a common bond between animals in the matters of birth and infancy. In some cases it may be that this behaviour is inherited or learned, and serves to ensure the survival of particular groups and species. In other cases, such as the giraffe and wildebeest or the cat and dachshund, it would appear to be simple altruism: one animal considering the good interests of another before its own.

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