Mother's Day Special: Top 5 Animal Moms That Will Do Anything for their Youngs

There's nothing quite like a mother's love, and animal mothers are no different.

It's important to note that humans aren't the only creatures who go to great lengths to defend, cultivate, and rear their offspring. Mothers who take the time to show their kids how to find calories and protect themselves from the elements abound in the animal world. Here are five incredible animal mothers who go beyond and beyond with their offspring:

Cheetah

Patience is a virtue, particularly in the role of cheetah mother. Females normally have four to six cubs at a time, but these youngsters aren't born with survival instincts. It's up to mom to show them how to kill prey and escape other predators, and it can take about two years for this teaching to take hold. Mom goes on to start a new family after the cubs have learned to fend for themselves, leaving her offspring to form a sibling or "sib" community.

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Elephant Seal

The average female elephant seal weighs up to 1,700 pounds!  When these expectant mothers become pregnant, they soon begin to swell up, even more, gaining weight every day of the 11-month gestation cycle. In less than a month after giving birth, she'll lose about 600 pounds while breastfeeding her cubs.

Octopus

The female octopus doesn't screw around when it comes to making babies - she lays over 50,000 eggs, and that's without using any fertility medications! The eggs take about 40 days to mature before hatching, and the mother stays with them the whole time, shielding them from predators and softly blowing water waves over them to supply oxygen.

African Elephant

When it comes to leading her young, an African elephant's new mother is not alone. Elephants live in a matriarchal culture, so after a calf is born, other females in the social community support it to its feet and teach it how to feed. The herd's pace is adjusted by the older elephants so that the calf can keep up. The calf knows which plants to eat and how to get to them by following the adults. The females make affectionate interactions with the calf daily.

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Elephant mothers also deserve recognition to survive a 22-month pregnancy and give birth to the world's biggest infants.

Orangutan

(Photo : Wikimedia Commons)

The relationship between a mother orangutan and her young is one of nature's greatest. The young depend solely on their mothers for food and transportation during their first two years of life. The mothers spend six to seven years with their young, teaching them where to find food, when and how to feed, and how to build a sleeping nest. Female orangutans have been seen visiting their mothers before they are 15 or 16 years old.

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