Mothers

Mothers

We all know that mother’s are an important part of our lives. They do so much for us. That is why we have a day to honor them for al their hard work and devotion. Research is showing that humans are not the only ones with this special bond between mother and child and that there is so much more to motherhood than meets the eye.

In studying animals researchers have learned more about motherhood and our relationships with our own mothers and how it is not a unique loving relationship among humans. Mothers play a critical role in the survival and health of the children human and nonhuman. Here is what we have learned about motherhood from animals.

Children constantly monitor their mother’s face. They watch her face to know if they are in danger and should be scared or they are safe and everything is fine. They learn about the world through their mother.

Mothers provide all the basic needs for survival and the tools needed to ensure the baby grows into a healthy functioning adult. They provide food to nourish and promote healthy bodies and growth in the infant. Among predators the mothers go out and get food for the young growing animals after they are weaned. She shows them what to eat and how to catch it. Among prey animals, after weaning, mothers show the young animals what is safe to eat and where to find it.

Mothers provide shelter or a home for their children whether it is up in a tree, on the ground or in a den in the ground. They give their children a place to live and call home until they are able to face the world on their own.

Mothers protect their young from danger whatever that may be. Danger could be in the form of predators or trying to play with the wrong species of animals like a venomous snake. For young monkeys it could be climbing too high in a tree for his or her size or experience or wandering too far from mother’s watchful eye.

They are discipliners keeping young curious explorers from behaving in a way that can be harmful to them. If they wander too far from safety mom calls them back or goes to retrieve them. If the young animals do not respond to mom’s call and come back, mom gets them and disciplines them so they never want to make that mistake again.

Dolphins are a good example of disciplining parents. According to Mike de Gruy, a wildlife filmmaker, if a young dolphin does something they shouldn’t, such as swim too far from mom’s protection or too close to a boat and its propellers mom calls the little one back. If her child ignores her calls she rushes over to her child and pushes him down to the ground pushing him into the sand. She then emits high pitched sonar pulses through his body giving him an experience and sensation he won’t forget. She then swims to the surface with him stroking his flipper with hers, a form of holding hands for dolphins. It is a reassurance that he did something he should not have but she still loves him.

Mothers give their babies nurturing and guidance, protection and love. Yes, I said that forbidden word never to be used when discussing animals and their behavior…love. Now we have proof, neurochemical proof.

Mothers, especially in social mammals, provide a lot of comfort and nurturing to their young in the form of physical contact. They hold their young to give them warmth, comfort, reassurance and safety. It is not hard to find videos and pictures of young primates curled up in their mother’s arms looking around or just sleeping. The mother-child bond is intense and the physical contact is critical in this bond. Physical contact is critical to the health of the child’s physical emotional and brain development. Contact is so critical that it is even more important than feeding. This is in humans as well.

Maternal love is addictive. There is a biochemical that is released in the brain when there is physical contact like hugging, cuddling, etc. This chemical is called beta-endorphins. It is similar to morphine so it reinforces the hugging, cuddling, clinging, etc. It makes the mother and child not only feel closer but they behave in ways that are calming. This is important since other studies have shown that in animals, us too, there is a link between managing stress and survival. Individuals who manage stress and are happier have a better
chance at survival, but that is another article.

According to Dr. Jaak Panksepp, a neuroscientist, young animals have strong emotional systems to get what they need. They cry when they are hungry or for other reasons, they yell and have separation calls to alert the parents that they are lost.

This addicting biochemical helps develop connections in the young animal’s brain and strengthens the connections already there. This promotion of brain development helps make the animal more intelligent. This response to physical contact is also attained when young animals play. It is fun, it feels good and it is critical in the child’s development in the brain, physically and emotionally. It reinforces the bond the mother and child have.

The affection, the good feeling, the desire for more cuddling and touching is shown by the beta-endorphins released in the brain by animals including humans. So the animals feel good just as we do when they are close to their mom. This closeness is actually a necessary function of survival and Nature has provided a reinforcement for it.

This strong, intense bond reinforced by beta-endorphines may explain why mothers will sacrifice everything, including their own lives, for the safety of their child. There are many stories of motherly sacrifice among wild animals.

One of those stories involves a work elephant in the 1930’3 named Ma Shwe and her three-month-old calf. In the book When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy, the authors describe a story of incredible intelligence, devotion and heroics. Ma Shwe and her calf were caught up in rapidly rising flood waters in the Upper Taungdwin River in Burma. Ma Shwe was able to stand in the waters but her calf was floating. She hung on to the calf with her trunk the best she could. When the calf would float away she would pull her back into her with her trunk. The banks of the river were steep and twelve to fifteen feet high so they could not get out of the water. She just held on to her calf until the current got so high and hard that her calf washed away. The mother plunged downstream fifty yards after her baby and retrieved her.

She held her against the steep bank pressing the calf with her head. She then scooped the baby up from underneath with her trunk and lifted the calf, stood up on her hind legs, and set her onto a rocky ledge five feet above the raging waters. Ma Shwe then fell back into the river and was washed away.

All this went on in front of the elephant handlers. They were helpless since the banks were too steep to get to the elephants. They then turned their attention to the wet, cold calf shivering on the narrow ledge. They had no idea how to get to the calf and get her off the ledge.

A half hour later they heard a defiant roar. Ma Shwe had crossed the river and was running as fast as she could up the bank roaring to her calf. The calf’s ears cocked forward listening to what J. H. Williams, the British manager of the elephant camp, described as “ the only sounds that mattered, the call of her mother.”

When Ma Shwee saw her calf safe on the ledge on the other side of the river her roar changed to a low rumble, a sound elephants make when they are pleased. The elephants were left alone and by morning the river was no longer flooded, Ma Shwe had crossed the river and her calf was off the ledge.

In the words of Joseph Campbell, “Motherhood is a sacrifice.” “…it is the giving over of oneself to the life of another.”

So you see, mothers are critical to our survival, all of us. They not only feed us, protect us, sacrifice for us but they provide us with the love and attention critical to our development. They give us the physical contact necessary to grow to be healthy, well-developed, intelligent adults. They give us the hugs touch and cuddles we need to develop our little minds, keep us calm and safe, and feel good. They are the ones we owe so much to, more than ever thought before.

Motherhood is universal. We share this loving bond with the animals we share the earth with. The affection, the sacrifice and the devotion are all common ground for all mothers and their children. At Earth Council we want to honor and give a debt of gratitude to all the mothers out there, furred, feathered, four-legged and two for all they do and their sacrifice for the sake of the future. After all, without mothers there wouldn’t be a future.

Thanks Mom

To all moms out there

Human or not

All over the world

Happy Mother’s Day!
Don't forget to give mom a hug.
It's good for you.

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