Celebrate All Mothers of The World!

Sunday is Mother's Day in America, a special day set aside for honoring mothers and celebrating all those qualities and actions that make mother "Mom." But animals and even plants also have evolved their own diverse maternal behaviors over the millennia, all aimed at ensuring that their offspring survive and thrive.

HUMAN MOTHERS teach their young, often by joining them in observing and interacting in the external world, then discussing it with them. Below are some examples of other amazing mothers and is really incredible how alike animals and plant mothers are to human mothers.

ANIMAL MOTHERS

Chimp mothers teach their young which bugs are good to eat and how to catch termites.

Cheetahs bring dead gazelle to her cheetah cubs, and they can pounce on it and 'kill' it although it is actually dead. She is providing an opportunity to learn. If you’re a cheetah, your mom teaches you that your spots can help you hide.

The gastric rooting frog, the tadpoles actually grow up in the stomach of the mother and then eventually emerge as little frogs emerging from the mouth of the mother.

Birds will sometimes wander around and pretend like they have a broken wing to try to distract a predator from the eggs. A goose that is raising goslings, it's going to be very aggressive even when it's fairly clear that a goose doesn't stand a chance of winning in that kind of contest.

PLANT MOTHERS
Plants also have developed ingenious maternal strategies for engendering and nurturing the next generation. Fortunately, many of these strategies nurture us, too.

Most of our food we eat, whether it's rice or wheat or other food - tomatoes, cucumbers, apples - these are actually the hard work of the mother, which has often provided a lots of nutrients, moisture and water for them. In many cases, the plant "mother" will actually put poisons or toxins into the covering of the outer fruit to prevent it from being eaten. You don't want to eat a green tomato! But when the fruit is ready to be eaten, then it turns an attractive color and we seek them.

Happy Mother's Day from Love Panda!

Mothers in general are the ultimate selfless teachers and protectors and everyday they make sacrifice for their kids. However you look at it, almost all life, plant and animal, owes not only its creation, but also its survival, to mom. And that's all the more reason we should take time out to contemplate and celebrate motherhood - all year long.