Parenting tips from the animal kingdom
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What challenges do parents face according to the host?
Hey, it's Flora, and you're listening to Science Friday. I don't need to tell you that parenting is hard. If you've ever been a child, had a child, or seen a child face down in a Target screaming, you know what I mean. But of course, humans aren't the only ones raising their young. So how do animals deal with babies that don't follow directions or little ones that are constantly begging for snacks? And what can we learn from them? To find out, we called parent and science journalist Elizabeth Preston, who wrote the book The Creature's Guide to Caring, How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care. Hey, Elizabeth, welcome to Science Friday. Hi, I'm so happy to be here. We're happy to have you.
Are there animals that make parenting look easy?
Well, a lot of animals have to do it all the time with no breaks. So they make it look automatic, if not easy. So I'm thinking of like the, you know, opossum mom with the whole row of kids on her back, or the gorilla who has to carry the baby clinging to her chest all the time. For them, it looks like something they don't even have to think about. But the truth is that when the mom does all the work like that, it's very intensive and it uses up a lot of her resources. So it's actually hard, even if it looks natural.
Yeah. I mean, I wanted to ask you about this because I think there's this kind of toxic metaphor in human mom culture that, like, we give everything to our kids. But I wondered, is that not a metaphor in some animal species?
Yeah.
Totally. There are some mothers that give their body to feed their children, not just in the sense of like making milk like we mammals do, but there are spider moms whose hatchlings will eat them alive, for example. Yeah. That's too real. It's too real. I know it's taking the metaphor too far. There's also a really strange amphibian called a Sicilian. It's kind of like a salamander with no legs. And she grows this kind of thick, extra fatty skin when she has babies. And then the babies are born with these specialized sharp teeth and they peel pieces of her skin. Like, I want to say like a banana, not to be too disgusting. And they eat her skin. She survives, but it is horrifying.
Oh, my God. That's where we come from. That's the legacy that we're working off of. Right, right. We asked our listeners what parenting problems they needed help with. And I want to play you one.
How do animal parents make parenting look easy?
Hi, Flora.
My name is Blythe. I am calling from the podcast Science Versus, but also I am calling from upstate New York, the beautiful Catskills, in response to your parenting question. We cannot solve the bedtime pop-out. It is every night. We're down, we do the song, we do the book, we do the tea, we do the routine, and then the kid still pops out. Nice and cozy in there, pops out. Sometimes it's like, Yeah, sure, I have to pee. Sometimes it's like, oh, I need some water. But the other night it was like, hey, I'm lonely. And sometimes it's like, oh, yeah, I forgot to show you the picture I drew at school. And then sometimes it's like, I forgot. I forgot why I'm out of bed. So if your expert has any advice on reducing the number of pop-outs, I would love to hear it.
Thank you. Bedtime. Classic. Do you have any advice for Blythe?
I think my only advice is maybe some reassurance that humans are not alone with the problem of trying to get our kids to go to sleep by themselves. I'm thinking of gorillas, for example. When gorillas are babies, their mothers are completely responsible for childcare. But when it's older, the other gorillas in the group... interact with it more, including the silverback male gorilla, who's the older dominant gorilla in the group. These silverbacks are really tolerant of the younger gorillas and they will play with them, hang out with them. And they'll even let the juvenile gorillas share their nest at night. They'll let the juveniles kind of cuddle up with them. So, you know, wanting to be close to an adult is not only a human kid issue.
Co-sleeping. Gorillas do it. You know, another common theme we had from our callers was like screen addiction, which is hard to find an analog for in the animal kingdom because, you know, most animals don't have iPads or even a postable thumb.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What challenges do parents face according to the host?
0:03–2:45
2
How do animal parents make parenting look easy?
2:45–6:26
3
What metaphors in human parenting culture are explored?
6:26–11:53
4
How do cooperative care practices compare between humans and animals?
11:53–15:59
5
What strategies do animals use for managing bedtime issues?
15:59–20:55
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Science Friday
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