Top 10 Most Devoted Animal Mom

Human mothers don’t just go to great lengths in order to ensure their babies’ health and survival. Some mother animals are also quite remarkable. They use strange and sometimes disturbing techniques to ensure their babies thrive. This is a list featuring the 10 most dedicated and unusual animal moms.

1. Jewel Wasps

These stunningly colored wasps not only make beautiful insects but also make dedicated mothers (in a admittedly disturbing way). When a mother jewel beet wasp is ready and willing to lay her egg, she sets out on a very disturbing journey.

2. Red-Knobbed Hornbills

First, she hunts down a small cockroach. Then, she stings it twice in order to essentially kill the tiny insect. The cockroach is temporarily paralysed and its escape reflex disabled by the venomous, venomous attacks. The mama wasp then pulls the unlucky one by its antenna into its burrow where it lays an egg. The mother of all evil then covers the burrow entrance and releases the eggs, which, after three days have passed, hatch into a jewel bee larva. The larva quickly starts to feed upon the still-living, zombified insect roach. It chews its own way into the roach’s belly where it stays for another 8 days. Horrifyingly however, the larva feeds on roaches in a controlled manner to ensure that the larva is alive long enough for it to form a cocoon and reach the pupal stage. This is because the mother jewel wasp made sure that her baby survived. Three cheers to moms.

3. Harp Seals

These unique and colourful birds who call Sulawesi, Indonesia home are raised by loyal mothers. Mother Hornbills create nests in tree holes and must protect them from many tree-dwelling predators. There are many lizards that love to eat hornbill nest eggs. The mother must make sure that the eggs don’t become lizard food. How does she do it? She makes sure she doesn’t leave the nest more than once in the two-months before the babyhornbills hatch. Let’s also say her second strategy is that she has taken a leaf out of the parenting manual for mama koalas. You heard it right. She uses her own excrement. However, she uses her feces to seal the entrance of her nest to keep predators away. These unwavering mothers won’t just allow predators to snatch their precious babies.

4. Koalas

Baby harps seals are adorable with their round, puppy-like eyes and soft furry skin. They can also be quite greedy. The mother of a baby harps seal is the only one they can rely on when she gives birth. The mother of a baby harps seal guards her pup from potential predators for two weeks in an icy nursery. The mom nurses her baby harps seal constantly, eating little and losing approximately 6 lbs per day. The baby seal also eats a lot of fat-rich milk and gains around 5 pounds each day. While she might not make the ultimate sacrifice like other mothers on the list of dedicated moms, she is committed to her little seal’s well-being and helps her through any hardships.

These essential bacteria are not present in baby koalas. Their mother is a dedicated mother who selflessly eats her own feces. It’s difficult to find mothers willing and able to sacrifice so much for their children. Koala moms will do just about anything to help their little ones. Koala mamas don’t mind going to the extremes to care for their babies. The diet of koalas is made up of only one thing: eucalyptus plants, which are highly toxic. The digestive system of the adult koala is lined with a specific type of bacteria, which prevents them from ingesting their deadly meal.

5. Opossums

Opossum mamas are the most dedicated mothers in all of animal kingdom. These marsupials hold their tiny babies in their cozy pouch for 2 months, nursing full-time on their mother. Once the baby and their mom are old enough to leave the protective and nourishing pouches, mama opossums continue to carry her babies just like the hardworking, heavy lifting mother she is. This mother continues to care for her kids, carrying them on her back. The opossum mom goes to great lengths to make sure her adorable, furry offspring are taken care of, and if this means hauling around her ever-increasing-in-size-babies around on her back for months, then so be it.

6. The Stegodyphus Lineatus Spider

These spiders also know as desert spiders exhibit some of the most peculiar mothering behaviors in the animal kingdom. Similar to the Pacific Octopus, these spider moms must die for their children’s survival. This is the grisly twist on the octopus’s tragic tale. The babies kill and eat their mama. After eating a month’s worth of regurgitated food to her young hatchlings, the mom spider will allow her murderous babies climb over her body to inject her with lethal and digestive enzymes. Once they have eaten their mother, the murderous rampage goes on. The fastest and most fearless baby spiders begin to devour their siblings. This mama gives her whole life in order to provide for her children in an utterly bizarre world.

7. The Cuckoo

The cuckoo can be classified as a species of brood parasite. This means that a sneaky mom will lay one of her eggs in the nest a smaller bird, of a species different to hers. Because of its larger size, the cuckoo will hatch faster and force other chicks out the nest. The scammed adoptive mama bird raises the imposter chick and then turns her full attention towards the undercover cuckoo child. This strategy of the mama bird laying her eggs within the nests other small species allows her babies to have the best chance at survival. However, she will only have force out the smaller chicks in the mother bird’s nest. This manipulative mama may not seem like the most involved of our mothers, but she will go to extraordinary lengths for the survival of her babies.

8. Giant Pacific Octopus

Octopuses are well-known for being intelligent and often mischievous. But they are also known for being one of the most dedicated mother animals on the planet. The giant Pacific Octopus has a life expectancy of 53 months. This is nearly 4.5 years. keeping her eggs in her secure den until they are ready to be released into a Pacific ocean. After carefully placing the eggs one after another, she braids the free-floating babies together and attaches these to the walls in a small, hidden cave. While the babies form in their egg sacs, she will be there for many more years. Here’s what is heartbreaking: While the mama octopus tirelessly protects her babies by gently brushing the eggs with her tentacles and keeping predators away, she gradually starves. After years and years of starving, her bodies breaking down, and her life energy depleting, the mother octopus finally gives up on her dreams to release her children into ocean. A mother can do so much for her children by giving up her life to save them.

9. Alligators

Most of us imagine alligators as an efficient killing machine with jaws full of death. Alligators may be the best and most effective predators in the animal kingdom, but they are also one of our most beloved species. They’re also some the best animal moms. Crocodilia are a member in the reptilian group that cares for their offspring once they’ve hatched. The hatching process begins when the baby alligators make noises to alert mother. She gently picks up hatchlings in her strong jaws and carries them to the waters. She gently shakes her head, encouraging them swim out of her mouth. In the event that a hatchling is struggling to get free from an egg, she gently rolls eggs around inside her mouth. Once the babies are fully hatched, they can be released into the warm water from their mother. The alligator babies will remain together for up the year, protected by their strong and loving mom.

10. Pigs

A mama singing to her baby a soft, sweet melody is a comforting and nurturing gesture. Do you think human moms are the only ones who sing lullabies for their baby? Be skeptical. It is not uncommon for pig mamas to sing sweet, snorty-filled songs to their tiny piglets while they nurse. The song begins with the mama Pig letting out a series snorts to let her children know she’s ready to nurse. She also signals that she is about time to lie down and that they need to move. Once mama pig is comfortably positioned on her back, her song will change to one that invites them for food. Her song becomes rhythmic and delightful as her baby nurses it. As the time nears, the song changes to indicate to her children that it’s mealtime. Is there any other mother in the animal kingdom who is so committed to her little ones that she can create whole songs?