Ever wonder why spring brings so many baby animals into our world? Or does it? Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, explains spring’s wild baby fever.
When are animals born?
Spring in the Northern Hemisphere evokes images of ducklings, chicks and other baby animals, so it’s only natural to associate the season with birth. For some animals, spring is the ideal time to bring new life into the wild kingdom.
“Spring offers a lot of time for the baby to develop and grow before the winter comes and environments become harsh,” Dr. Rae said.
The season brings new plant growth with highly nutritious vegetation and an abundance of resources, making it a great time to bring offspring into the world. Baby animals also have many months to develop before winter comes and food becomes scarcer.
Wild animals born in spring in the Northern Hemisphere include bison, elk and wolves.
Are all animals born in spring?
Not all animals have spring birthdays, despite appearances. For example, all black bears are born in January, but they don’t emerge from hibernation until spring. Therefore, some folks may believe the cubs are spring babies.
“Usually sometime in March or April is when they’ll emerge from the den,” Dr. Rae said. “And so that’s when people might see them, and it offers this beautiful metaphor of birth and rebirth. But technically, they weren’t born in the spring, they’re just emerging in the spring.”
For other species, such as whales, birth depends less on the season. Whales go to different areas of oceans for birthing, mating and feeding, as water temperature plays a role in their lifecycle.
Wildlife parental instincts
Though the birthing process varies from species to species, all animals share a common goal.
“The goal of every animal parent is to make sure their offspring survive long enough to reach reproductive age,” Dr. Rae said. “If we home in on mammals, we know mammals do things like humans. We both nurse our young. The maternal experience is similar to where the mother needs to hunt, eat and graze to make her body strong enough to nurse a baby or several babies. And that really ties us to nature very strongly.”
What drives those behaviors is instinct rather than emotion.
“Instincts aren’t driven by emotion,” Dr. Rae said. “They’re driven by the purpose of evolution — survival and having your genes in the gene pool.”
Even so, those instincts can feel familiar. Just like humans, wild animals have parental instincts to protect their young, albeit in different ways.
For Dr. Rae, those parallels became more evident since she became a mother herself.
“I’ve found myself curious as to why humans have evolved to have newborns that are completely dependent on the mother,” Dr. Rae said.
Think of a giraffe, for example. After birth, baby giraffes walk right away. Or a chameleon, which is born and immediately starts climbing a tree.
“Becoming a mother myself has made me very curious about human evolution and why our infants are the way they are,” Dr. Rae said. “But it also has helped me appreciate and really see how birth is happening all the time. It’s part of this amazing cycle that connects all of us.”
Watch baby animals on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild. See which episodes feature the smallest members of the wild kingdom.
What to do if you find a baby animal
If you’ve ever found a baby bird or bunny in your backyard, you might have wondered what to do.
First, Dr. Rae says, don’t touch it.
“A lot of people think baby animals have been abandoned,” Dr. Rae says. “It’s a misconception because almost always, the mother has stuck that animal in that place deliberately to go get food for herself and she will collect her baby later.”
Dr. Rae’s advice is to check on the baby every hour or two. If after 12 hours, the baby is still there and mother hasn’t returned, call your local wildlife rescue.
