Nature's Amazing Moms

There's more than one way to be a mom. Nature thrives with a variety of mothering techniques adapted to help different species survive. From mighty crocodiles to tiny poison dart frogs, animal moms take their own approach.

Parenting Together

Some young do best with round-the-clock care from both parents. The imitating poison dart frogs and blue-headed pionus in Upland Tropical Rain Forest showcase this parenting technique.

Honey, Where Are the Kids?

Rearing tadpoles takes a surprisingly good memory. Some poison dart frogs, including the imitating poison dart frogs on exhibit near our Upland Tropical Rain Forest habitat, start their parenting journey on land, where the females lay two to four eggs in protected, damp areas, like leaf litter or moss. Once the eggs hatch, the father carries the tadpoles on his back to tiny pools of water collected in leaves, trees, or other nooks and crannies. Each tadpole gets a separate pool of water to avoid competition and sibling cannibalism. Dad checks on each of his tadpoles periodically, relying on memory to find them. If they aren't getting enough food in their pool, he will call for mom. She will follow him to the hungry tadpole and lay infertile eggs for the tadpole to eat.

At the Aquarium, staff raise each tadpole in their own glass bowl full of water and feed them gel food and black worms.

Un-beak-able Teamwork

Parrot parents stick together. The female blue-headed pionus lays three to five eggs each breeding season. She incubates them for almost a month, keeping them nice and toasty. After the eggs hatch, both parents feed and protect their chicks for several months until it's time to leave the nest.

The chicks also learn to follow their relative to a night house at the end of each day, where staff can tend to them. This routine helps the birds participate in their own care throughout their life cycles.

Attentive Mothers

When you think of attentive animal moms, you probably think of penguins, orangutans or maybe even humans! But while not widely known for their parenting skills, certain species of reptiles and crustaceans, like those in our Australia: Wild Extremes exhibit, show up for their young in surprising ways.

Cold-Blooded Cows

Armor-like skin, sharp claws, powerful tails and a dedication to their young that'll just melt your heart. Each breeding season, female Johnston's crocodiles, also known as cows, lay approximately 20 eggs in sandy areas. The female croc will guard her nest against predators like monitor lizards. After two to three months, it's time to hatch! The babies will grunt from inside their eggs until mom hears them and digs up the nest. Baby crocodiles use an egg tooth at the end of their snout to break out of their shell, and then mom carries them in her mouth to the water. While in the water, mom protects the babies from predators, such as birds, until her babies set off on their own. Bye, Mom!

Yabby Dabba Do!

If carrying 20 eggs sounds like a lot of work, imagine carrying hundreds for months. Female yabbies, a kind of freshwater crayfish, incubate anywhere from 50 to 400 eggs at a time, attached to their abdomens with a sticky goo they create. The moms use their skinny appendages to delicately clean their eggs of any debris or parasites and flick their tails to move water over the eggs and keep them oxygenated. After about a month, the babies hatch, but they aren't ready to survive on their own. Instead, mom lets them cling to her shell for another couple months until they get a little bigger.

A Hands-Off Approach

For some mothers, the best way to set up their kids for success is to let them hit the ground running (or swimming). At least that's how female Australian whiprays and blacktip reef sharks like those in Blacktip Reef operate.

Sea Pancakes and Eggs

Female Australian whiprays don't need to flex their parenting muscles. These rays give birth to fully independent live young, and ray pups hatch inside the womb. They shed a thin membrane egg capsule that mom absorbs. Because there is no umbilical cord, mom supplies nutrients via uterine milk.

Good Luck, Pups!

Female blacktip reef sharks take a "same, same but different" approach to mothering as Australian whiprays. These shark mamas are pregnant for almost a year and give birth to two to five pups that enter the world ready to go—no rearing required! While in the womb, mom shares nutrients and oxygen with her pups via an umbilical cord, which means blacktip reef sharks have belly buttons.

While this may sound like a good deal, some shark mamas don't give birth at all! Most female sharks lay tough, leathery, fertilized egg cases, also called mermaid's purses, that contain embryos for upward of six months until they hatch on their own.

More to Discover

Be on the lookout for these species the next time you visit the Aquarium and help them thrive with a donation to the National Aquarium. Your donation helps us purchase food, materials for exhibit upkeep, and more!