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The maternal instinct in nature
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| May 6, 2002. |
In most animals, the female is the
one that determines the future well-being of the offspring
as she chooses the healthiest and strongest of the lot
to mate with. This ensures that the combination of their
genes will produce offspring with the best qualities
to adapt and survive in the natural world.
Once his function in the genesis
of life is concluded, the male will have nothing left
to do but wait for the next reproductive cycle, go out
looking for another female or simply die once he's reached
his goal. However, the adventure of maternity will only
be starting in the female. She will be responsible for
the gestation, care and education of the offspring so
that it will be perfectly prepared to confront the challenges
of life.
Through the times, various cultures
have considered different animals to be symbols of maternity.
Among those totems, the crocodile and the turtle stand
out, reptiles that live in the water, a vital element
that has been associated with the "Great Mother"
- Nature - for millennia.
The female crocodile is considered
a symbol of maternity because she protects her nests
ferociously against any danger. Moreover, she assists
in the young ones' birth process, helping them break
their egg shells and transporting them on her nose to
the safety of the water.
For native American Indians, the
turtle symbolizes "Mother Earth" and it is
a living reminder that she provides us with all we need
to live. On the other hand, in Nigeria, the turtle was
considered a symbol of sexual organs and feminine sexuality.
They also linked those reptiles with lunar cycles, menstruation
and the powers of female energy.
What we wish for most from our mother
is without doubt her loving and warm embrace that not
only comforts us but also relieves us from all that
is ill. There is one mother in nature that uses her
embrace not only to provide protection to her young,
but also to incubate them: the python.
After laying some 100 eggs in a nest,
the female python will curl up on top of them and start
to shiver, like we do when we are cold. As she is a
cold-blooded animal that needs to take the sun to warm
its body, the python cannot use her body heat to incubate
her eggs, so she starts to contract her muscles rhythmically,
as if she were shivering, to raise her body temperature
to 7ºC higher than the average ambient temperature.
For the 90 days of the incubation period, mama python
will not have anything to eat so as not to leave her
nest.
If it is really tiring for mothers
who walk or swing through trees to carry a baby in their
uterus, imagine how tiring it must be for those who
fly. That is what a pregnant mother bat must face as
she must carry this "excess" weight for as
long as six weeks. But this situation becomes secondary
when we consider that they relax hanging upside down
by their feet and as such, they must give birth hanging
right side up. Fortunately, like females of all species,
they resolve this problem very intelligently, as they
catch their newborn with their wings so that it will
not fall to the ground and die.
Many mothers set aside their own
physical welfare to give birth to a new life full of
hopes and illusions. In the natural environment, the
female water flea (a tiny relative of crabs) is one
example of a spectacular sacrifice in favor of her offspring.
Once the female has been fertilized by the male, about
100 young start to grow within her body. In order to
accommodate them, the mother gradually loses all her
internal organs. When the offspring are completely developed,
they occupy every little bit of the female's body and
can be seen through her skin. When the little ones are
ready to be born, instead of giving birth to them, the
mother explodes and dies, expelling them into the water.
During the winter season, the female
Grizzly bear retires to her hibernating refuge where
she will give birth to her cubs, that are born blind
and hairless. Far from the cold, protected in the lair,
the cubs will survive all this time on their mother's
milk while she survives on her own fat reserves. This
motherly care carries a price during that time of the
year: the loss of approximately 25% of her body weight.
In nature, gestation times can be
as short as a few hours and as long as many months.
The largest of all land mammals, the elephant, has the
longest gestation period of all mammals: 22 months.
The dramatic moment of birth of a 115-kg (250-lb.) elephant
calf is generally attended by one or more females that
act as the mother's companions. To give birth, the mother
stands on all fours and the calf falls to the ground
head first and tears the umbilical cord in the doing.
The little elephant will be breast-fed for the next
three years. Also, it will be educated by his mother
and the pride of females for its first 14 to 17 years
of life if it is a male, and for its entire life if
it is a female.
Being a mother is not easy, but neither
is it a condition plagued by self-denial and suffering,
rather it is an attitude that demonstrates courage,
valor, wisdom and spiritual and physical strength when
facing the tribulations of life. Happy Mother's Day
to all mothers!
cupul@pvmirror.com
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