Cats and dog have very strong maternal instincts that are very easily stimulated when lactating dogs or cats come across a neonate of either species.
Dogs are particularly bad. Virtually every female dog has a false pregnancy after going through a heat cycle, and nine weeks later, she will often produce milk and try to mother objects that look like what would be her own puppies.
In the wild, this would have distinct advantages. In a wolf pack, normally only a single pair reproduces, which are usually the parents of the other wolves in the pack. Wolves tend to come into estrus at roughly the same time every year, so when the breeding female has her pups, any other females are going to be exhibiting maternal behavior. This make them great babysitters, and if something were to happen to the breeding female while the puppies still needed milk, one of these nonbreeding females might be able to produce milk for them.
And domestic cats have their social structure dramatically altered from their wild ancestors. Domestic cat queens form little family groups that communally nurse each other's kittens-- much like lion prides, which are based upon female kin.
It's likely that domestic queens have evolved very strong maternal instincts that might be stimulated by a neonate that is clearly not her own.
However, a few years ago I saw a documentary about leopards and lions in either South Africa or somewhere in East Africa. A female leopard was lactating, but I think hyenas had killed her cub.
Not far from her, a female lion gave birth to a single cub, but she had chosen a bad spot for the birthing den. Hyenas ran her off. The cub was still wet and screaming at the top of its lungs, when the female leopard showed up.
And she stopped.
She sniffed the lion cub, and then she picked it up and carried a few yards-- almost as if it were her own cub.
She eventually dropped the cub and abandoned it, but it shows how easily certain carnivorans can be stimulated into engaging in maternal behavior toward their own species.
Cats and dog have very strong maternal instincts that are very easily stimulated when lactating dogs or cats come across a neonate of either species.
ReplyDeleteDogs are particularly bad. Virtually every female dog has a false pregnancy after going through a heat cycle, and nine weeks later, she will often produce milk and try to mother objects that look like what would be her own puppies.
In the wild, this would have distinct advantages. In a wolf pack, normally only a single pair reproduces, which are usually the parents of the other wolves in the pack. Wolves tend to come into estrus at roughly the same time every year, so when the breeding female has her pups, any other females are going to be exhibiting maternal behavior. This make them great babysitters, and if something were to happen to the breeding female while the puppies still needed milk, one of these nonbreeding females might be able to produce milk for them.
And domestic cats have their social structure dramatically altered from their wild ancestors. Domestic cat queens form little family groups that communally nurse each other's kittens-- much like lion prides, which are based upon female kin.
It's likely that domestic queens have evolved very strong maternal instincts that might be stimulated by a neonate that is clearly not her own.
However, a few years ago I saw a documentary about leopards and lions in either South Africa or somewhere in East Africa. A female leopard was lactating, but I think hyenas had killed her cub.
Not far from her, a female lion gave birth to a single cub, but she had chosen a bad spot for the birthing den. Hyenas ran her off. The cub was still wet and screaming at the top of its lungs, when the female leopard showed up.
And she stopped.
She sniffed the lion cub, and then she picked it up and carried a few yards-- almost as if it were her own cub.
She eventually dropped the cub and abandoned it, but it shows how easily certain carnivorans can be stimulated into engaging in maternal behavior toward their own species.