Ah, children.
They grow. They make friends. They borrow the car keys, see you later can I have them, please?
Child-rearing in The Wild is fascinating. Whichever parent takes on the task will defend their children to the death. But once a child is old enough to fend for itself? It’s a competitor for whatever resources are available.
If there’s enough, child and parent tolerate each other. If not, somebody eats, somebody goes hungry.
There are exceptions, of course. Socially gregarious animals – those who live in herds or packs or communities of some kind – care for each other throughout their lives. If you ever want your heart ripped from you, watch a mother elephant stay with her dying calf until it passes.
I’m crying just with the memories.
Here we had siblings gather for dinner. No mom around. Perhaps, raccoons being how they are, she was glad to have the den to herself.
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