母親節是人們感謝母親的節日。人類對母親懷有特殊的情感，因為母愛無私而偉大。可是你也許不了解，動物世界也有很多杰出和偉大的母親。一起來盤點動物世界的偉大母親。

1. Emperor Penguins 帝企鵝

Both Emperor moms and dads put in a lot of work when it comes to raising their young: After laying their eggs, Emperor moms immediately leave their mates to watch the eggs for up to nine weeks so they can hunt; it can take so long that sometimes they don’t return until after the chick has hatched. At that time, they take over the brooding, while their mates go out for food. Eventually, both parents will go out to hunt while the chick stays behind in a group of chicks called a crèche. Once the chicks are five months old, they’re on their own.

帝企鵝的父母在撫養幼崽方面都付出了很多努力：雌企鵝產下蛋后，會立即離開伴侶去狩獵，讓雄企鵝看守蛋長達九周；有時時間會拖得很長，直到雛鳥孵化后她們才回來。那時，她們會接管孵化工作，而伴侶則外出覓食。最終，雙親都會外出狩獵，而雛鳥則留在被稱為“托兒所”的幼鳥群體中。一旦雛鳥長到五個月大，它們就得自己照顧自己了。

2. Cheetahs 獵豹

Cheetahs typically have around three cubs in the wild (and sometimes as many as eight in captivity), and after they’re born, mom moves them frequently in an attempt to keep them safe. (Sadly, because she does have to leave to hunt, cub mortality is high.) Once the cubs reach eight weeks old, they’re capable of following mom themselves, and they move to a new spot every day. Mom will teach them how to hunt, and they’ll hone those skills playing with their siblings. The mother cheetah doesn’t leave her cubs until they’re around 18 months old.

獵豹在野外通常有大約三只幼崽（在圈養環境下有時多達八只），幼崽出生后，為了保護它們的安全，母獵豹會頻繁地給它們挪窩。（遺憾的是，因為母獵豹不得不離開去狩獵，幼崽的死亡率很高。）一旦幼崽長到八周大，它們就能自己跟隨母親了，并且每天都會遷徙到新的地方。母親會教小獵豹如何狩獵，而小獵豹們會在和兄弟姐妹打鬧的過程中磨練這些技能。母獵豹直到幼崽大約18個月大時才會離開它們。

3. African Elephants 非洲象

Elephant moms are pregnant for a significant amount of time—22 months—and give birth to gigantic babies (elephant calves clock in around 200 pounds!). And that’s just the beginning of elephant parenting.

大象媽媽懷孕的時間相當長——22個月——并且生下巨大的寶寶（小象的體重大約在200磅左右！）。此時大象媽媽的養育職責才剛剛開始。

Baby elephants can’t see well at first, so they’re heavily reliant on their mothers and stick close to them for the first few months of their lives. Elephants form a matriarchal society where just about every female takes part in raising the little ones. Elephant babies rely on their mothers for support and nutrition for up to two years, during which they are also taught to forage, collect water, and protect themselves—but they continue to be reliant on their mothers for years.

小象一開始視力不好，所以它們非常依賴母親，在生命的最初幾個月里緊緊跟隨母親。象群是母系社會，幾乎每頭雌性大象都參與撫養幼崽。母親會撫育和喂養小象長達兩年，在此期間還會教小象如何覓食、吸水和保護自己——但此后多年小象仍然會繼續依賴母親。

4. Harp Seal 豎琴海豹

When it’s time for harp seals to give birth, they do so on the ice, in large groups. They find their own young by scent. The first 12 days of a harp seal pup’s life is spent feeding on their mom’s high-fat milk, during which time they’ll gain around 60 pounds. After that, the pups are on their own; they’ll stick around on the ice for another six weeks until they get so hungry they head to the water to hunt.

當豎琴海豹準備分娩時，它們會在冰上成群結隊地進行。它們通過嗅覺找到自己的幼崽。豎琴海豹幼崽生命的最初12天是靠吃母親的高脂奶水度過的，在這段時間里，它們會增重約60磅。之后，幼崽就得自己照顧自己了；它們會在冰上再待六周，直到餓得不行再下水狩獵。

5. Orangutan 猩猩

Orangutan moms stand out in the mothering world thanks to two major elements of their parenting that are not duplicated by other species. First, they either build a new nest or head to an older one every single night. Not impressed yet? Consider the second incredible trait of orangutan moms: Their babies hang off of them for years. Orangutan kids have the longest dependence period of any land-dwelling animal, and they will stay with their moms for up to seven years as mom teaches them how to find food and build nests. Females will come back to visit for much longer than that to learn mothering skills themselves.

猩猩媽媽在母親界中獨樹一幟，因為它們有兩大育兒特點是其他物種所沒有的。首先，它們每晚都要挪窩，要么蓋一個新窩，要么去一個之前的老窩。不覺得稀奇？那么來看看猩猩媽媽的第二個驚人特質：它們的寶寶會掛在它們身上多年。猩猩幼崽的依賴期是陸地動物中最長的，它們會和母親一起生活長達七年，在這期間母親教它們如何尋找食物和建造巢穴。雌猩猩長大離家后會回娘家待更長時間，向媽媽學習做母親的技巧。

6. Wolf Spiders 狼蛛

While other spiders may leave their eggs on their webs while they go about their normal spider lives, wolf spiders take their egg sacs with them everywhere—and then take their young everywhere after they’ve hatched. Wolf spider moms attach their sacs to their bodies, later letting the baby spiders ride on their backs until they’re of age to hop off.

雖然其他蜘蛛可能會將產下的卵留在網上，然后繼續正常生活，但狼蛛走到哪就會把自己的卵囊帶到哪，待幼蛛孵化后，帶著它們到處走。狼蛛媽媽將卵囊附著在身上，幼蛛孵化后則讓幼蛛騎在自己的背上，直到它們長大了自己從背上跳下來。

7. Polar Bears 北極熊

After mating, polar bear moms need to pack on the pounds: If they don’t at least double their body weight (usually adding another 400 pounds), their bodies will reabsorb their fetuses. After all that eating, the hefty mamas then need to dig a den, lightly hibernate, and give birth. And while that part of the parenting process might sound easy, polar bear moms are then tasked with taking care of their little ones for about two years before it all starts again.

交配后，北極熊媽媽需要增加體重：如果它們不至少增加一倍的體重（通常再增加400磅），它們的身體會重新吸收它們的胎兒。在吃完一大堆食物后，這些體重增加的媽媽們接著需要挖一個洞穴，淺淺地休眠一段時間，然后分娩。盡管育兒過程的這一部分聽起來很容易，但隨后北極熊媽媽就要照顧小家伙大約兩年，然后進行下一次交配和分娩。

8. Octopuses 章魚

Octopuses only reproduce once in their lifetimes and some will lay up to 200,000 eggs. Moms will then protect the eggs for as long as necessary—scientists even observed one deep-sea octopus protecting her eggs for a record-breaking 53 months. During this time, the mother octopus doesn’t eat and ensures the eggs get a constant supply of oxygenated water. When the eggs hatch, she dies.

章魚一生中只繁殖一次，有些章魚一次就會產下多達20萬個卵。然后，母章魚會盡可能長時間地保護這些卵——科學家們甚至觀察到一只深海章魚保護她的卵長達創紀錄的53個月。在這段時間里，母章魚不吃東西，并確保她的卵獲得持續供應的含氧水。當卵孵化時，她就會死去。

9. Koalas 樹袋熊

Koalas chow down on poisonous eucalyptus leaves partly because their digestive tracts are filled with special microbes that can process the leaves—but they’re not born with it. Koalas work to build up their joeys’ tolerance by feeding them their poop—and not just any poop, but a “special unformed maternal faeces called pap.” The first scientist to observe the behavior recorded a koala baby eating a “yellowish-green slime” by “forcing its nose into the mother’s cloaca [and] energetically eating the substance from [her] rectum.” The parent “appeared uncomfortable” but “remained quiet” and didn’t attempt to stop the baby. (That said, not all scientists are convinced it’s to transfer bacteria; some suggest that it’s a type of supplemental protein for a weaning joey.)

樹袋熊能吃有毒的桉樹葉，一部分是因為它們的消化道里充滿了可以分解桉樹葉的特殊微生物，不過這些微生物不是與生俱來的。樹袋熊通過給幼崽喂食自己的糞便來建立幼崽對桉樹葉的耐受性。這不是普通的糞便，而是一種“特殊的未成型的半流質母體糞便”。第一位觀察到這種行為的科學家記錄了一只樹袋熊幼崽通過“把它的鼻子塞進母親的泄殖腔并精力充沛地從（她的）直腸”吃這種“黃綠色粘液”。樹袋熊媽媽“看起來不舒服”，但仍“保持安靜”，沒有試圖阻止幼崽。（話雖如此，并非所有科學家都認為這一行為是為了傳遞細菌免疫力；一些人認為這是給斷奶期的幼崽補充蛋白質的一種方式。）

As if that wasn’t already some all-time mom material, koalas are also marsupials, meaning joeys have to finish development in their moms' pouches (before it’s time to get down to the poop-eating).

樹袋熊媽媽的偉大之處還在于，她也是有袋動物，這意味著幼崽必須在母親的育兒袋里完成發育（在開始吃糞便之前）。

10. Alligators 短吻鱷

Alligators may not look very cuddly, but they make excellent mothers. A gator mom kicks things into high gear by building a nest made out of rotting vegetation that self-heats.

短吻鱷看起來也許不是很可愛，但它們是出色的母親。鱷魚媽媽會用腐爛的植被建造一個可以自發熱的巢穴，為孵化做好充分準備。

Internal temperature often determines the sex of the gator babies, so the nests have to be made with climate control. Nests that heat up to between 90 and 93 degrees Fahrenheit usually spawn boy gators, while much outside that range tends towards girls (though higher temperatures tend to be lethal). After the kids hatch, gator moms will gently carry their young in their giant mouths, taking them to the water to learn all the necessary gator stuff they have to know, with lessons often stretching out for a whole year.

巢穴的內部溫度通常會決定鱷魚寶寶的性別，所以巢穴必須控制好溫度。溫度在90到93華氏度之間的巢穴通常會產生雄性鱷魚，而遠遠超出這個溫度范圍之外的則多產生雌性鱷魚（盡管更高的溫度往往是致命的）。幼崽孵化后，鱷魚媽媽會用它們巨大的嘴巴溫柔地銜著它們，帶它們到水里學習所有必要的鱷魚知識，課程通常持續一整年。

11. Great Hornbills 大犀鳥

Koalas aren’t the only animal moms that rely on poop for parenting—great hornbills also use it, but for a different reason. Hornbills lay their eggs in hollowed-out trees, with mama hornbills staying behind to protect the eggs while papa hornbills go out for food. Where does the poop come into play? The hornbills use it to seal up holes in their hollowed-out homes, the very same places where the mother hornbills spend their days.

樹袋熊不是唯一靠糞便來育兒的動物媽媽——大犀鳥也用糞便，但原因不同。犀鳥在空心樹干中產卵，母犀鳥留下來保護卵，而公犀鳥則外出覓食。糞便在哪里發揮作用呢？犀鳥會用糞便來封閉它們空心樹窩的洞口，母犀鳥就在糞便下度日。

英文來源：Mental Floss

翻譯&編輯：丹妮

審校：董靜、齊磊