a mother polar bear with two cubs on top of her
Twin cubs playing with each other on their mother who is resting after nursing. Churchill, Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada
Photograph by NORBERT ROSING, Nat Geo Image Collection

Beautiful moments between animal mothers and their babies

From emperor scorpions to hippos to wallabies, many wild moms remind us of ourselves. Here are some intimate scenes captured on camera.

ByBrian Handwerk
May 8, 2020

Every animal can thank a mom for making life possible. But the animal kingdom’s many mothering methods are as different as orangutans and octopuses.

Some mothers lay eggs, in treetops or on the seafloor, while others labor through long pregnancies and live births. Many moms are on their own, but a fortunate few get help from babysitters or nursemaids. Some moms have dedicated co-parents, but others have to go it alone—or even contend with infanticidal killers.

an infant gelada clinging to its mother running up a hill
A gelada young clings to its mother's back for transport. Guassa Community Conservation Area, Ethiopia.
Photograph by JEFFREY KERBY, Nat Geo Image Collection

Mother-child bonding runs the gamut of relationship styles. Lion moms may live with their daughters for life, harp seals must cram every bit of their maternal care into less than two weeks, and many lizards never meet their offspring at all. Some mothers, like octopuses, sacrifice their lives to give the next generation its start.

Just keeping babies alive long enough to reach adulthood is a challenge. But moms also have to teach their young how to be a monkey, a cheetah, a whale, or a falcon. (Read how animal mothers remind us a lot of our own.)

a falcon and her chicks in the nest
A female saker falcon guards her chicks, called eyases, in their nest overlooking the Mongolian plain. Mongolia.
Photograph by BRENT STIRTON, Nat Geo Image Collection

“Many species seem to recognize that the young really don’t know what they are doing,” says animal behavioralist Jennifer Verdolin, author of the book Raised by Animals, “so they are given a kind of grace period to learn.”

One thing that most all animal mothers have in common is sacrifice; nature doesn’t make it easy to nurture the next generation. This photo gallery celebrates some of those amazing animals who, in their own unique ways, dedicate themselves to motherhood.

a wolf howling and her pup jumping up in front up her
A gray wolf (Canis lupus) howls while her young pup jumps with excitement. MONTANA.
Photograph by NORBERT ROSING, Nat Geo Image Collection
a humpback whale mother and calf
Female Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, and its calf swimming together. Vava'u, Pacific Ocean, Tonga.
Photograph by GREG LECOEUR, Nat Geo Image Collection
an octopus with her nest of eggs above her
A female octopus, species yet to be scientifically described, is tending her eggs.
Photograph by DAVID LIITTSCHWAGER, Nat Geo Image Collection
a female lion with her two cubs
A female lioness from the Barafu pride wrangles her infant cubs. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.
Photograph by MICHAEL NICHOLS, Nat Geo Image Collection
a mouse at night carrying its baby in its mouth
Harvest mouse (Micromys minutus) female carrying baby to a new nest at night, France, Controlled conditions.
Photograph by Klein & Hubert, Nature Picture Library
a black scorpion mother with around 20 white offspring on top of her
Emperor Scorpion (Pandinus imperator) carrying her immature offspring
Photography by ZSSD, Minden Pictures
of a mother panda holding her cub
A giant panda mother cradles her cub at the Wolong China Conservation and Research Center
Photograph by AMI VITALE, Nat Geo Image Collection
a seal and its pup with their heads out of the water
A harp seal mother swims with her pup in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Quebec, Canada.
Photograph by JENNIFER HAYES, Nat Geo Image Collection
a macaque holding her young
Japanese Macaque (Macaca fuscata) mother and young in hot spring with juveniles grooming, Jigokudani, Nagano, Japan
Photography by Thomas Marent, Minden Pictures
a cub cheetah standing on top of its mother
Cheetah cub playing with mother, Acinonyx jubatus, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.
Photograph by Frans Lanting, Nat Geo Image Collection
a mother rhino feeding her calf
A captive Sumatran rhinoceros and her calf feeding on leaves. Cincinnati, Ohio.
Photograph by JOEL SARTORE, Nat Geo Image Collection
a sea otter pup on top of its mother
Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) mother and three day old newborn pup, Monterey Bay, California
Photograph by Suzi Eszterhas, Minden Pictures
a mother and calf hippo underwater
East African River Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius kiboko) calf playing with mother underwater, San Diego Zoo, California
Photograph by ZSSD, Minden Pictures
a bat mother hanging upside down with her young under her wings
Grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) hanging from a branch with her young under her wings at a colony next to the Yarra River, Yarra Bend Park, Kew, Victoria, Australia.
Photograph by Doug Gimesy, Minden Pictures
a wallaby and its young in its pouch
Red-necked wallaby, Macropus rufogriseus, with joey in Bunya Mountains National Park. Bunya Mountains National Park, Queensland, Australia.
Photograph by STEFANO UNTERTHINER, Nat Geo Image Collection
a langur mother with her young and a sun setting behind her
Southern Plains Gray Langur (Semnopithecus dussumieri) female with young, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
Photography by Anup Shah, Minden Pictures
a giraffe mother and her calf walking together
Mother and offspring Angolan girafffes on the run early in the morning. Madelaine Castles researching how age effects social preferences in giraffes. Namibia.
Photograph by MADELAINE CASTLES, Nat Geo Image Collection