When animals give birth in the wild, it isn’t entirely uncommon for them to abandon their babies. Multiple favors including deformity and sickness can contribute to a mother making that devastating decision. But biologists say that it’s actually very difficult to get a mother to give up an offspring that she intends to care for.
So after a newborn panda was momentarily separated from her mother so that their caretakers could do a wellness check, they were worried that her mother may not accept her.
Newborn baby pandas look nothing like their large, adult counterparts. They are born exceptionally small (only 3 ounces), which is not much bigger than a stick of butter; while their fully grown parents range in size from 200-300 pounds. Panda babies are born wrinkly, pink, and bald, while mom and dad have distinctive black and white wooly coats.
The newborns are so tiny that they can’t hold themselves up, and they are utterly incapable of fending for themselves. An Atlanta Zoo study found that mother pandas spent 80 percent of their time holding their babies. A mother panda must constantly clutch her cub to her chest for it to feed and be kept warm. They can’t even hold themselves up to pee or poop on their own. Plus, mother pandas must rub their babies’ bellies to stimulate their muscles so that they can release bodily waste.
So it was incredibly imperative that someone, ideally her mother, would quickly begin to care for her. It was heart-wrenching to watch the beginning of the video; hearing the tiny baby cry and seeing her roll around on the ground was enough to tear out your heart. Then we saw her mother pacing and debating whether or not she would walk over to her crying cub.
After three long days of labor, it truly seemed like the mother panda was extremely reluctant to care for her tiny newborn cub. After all, there is still some speculation as to whether or not human intervention can lead to an animal abandoning their babies. Some say that too many smells can deter bonding, while others say the natural mothering instinct will always prevail.
But the initially nerve-wracking moments soon turned incredibly heartwarming when the new mother suddenly scooped up her beautiful baby girl and comforted her desperate cries. It’s absolutely adorable the way she curls up with and cradles her newborn daughter.
You can watch the emotional viral video below.
Featured Image: YouTube
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