09-05-2025
Want to see baby animals cuddling with their moms? We've got you covered.
Photo Ark Babies is Joel Sartore's sixth book exploring the marvels of the animal world through his ongoing National Geographic Photo Ark project, a multi-year mission to photograph animals in human care around the world, emphasizing those liable to be lost forever due to species extinction.
What is family to a seabird who soars alone over the open ocean, or to a primate who clings to its mother for years? Do animals have siblings, aunties, or cousins? Can they survive without any family at all?
Bearing and rearing young are central to the life cycle of nearly all creatures, whether done the way of the giant clam—by releasing half a billion eggs into the vast sea, full stop—or the koala, who provides long stretches of intense care. Parents of the animal kingdom are endlessly imaginative in how they feed, shelter, and teach their youngsters. There is no one way, they might counsel us, to raise a tadpole or an owlet.
Females often assume the primary parenting duties, but there are exceptions. The male Darwin's rhea, a large, flightless bird of South America, for instance, is a do-it-all dad. He builds a nest and incubates up to 30 eggs laid by different females, then raises the chicks to adulthood, teaching them survival skills and protecting them from predators.
(How much do you really know about baby animals?)
At the other end of the caregiving spectrum are young Komodo dragons. They spend their first year of life in trees to avoid their massive landbound parents, who have a nasty inclination to eat their young.
Siblings, other relatives, and adults in the community are sometimes on the scene for companionship or care. They fill a need for babysitting or socialization and, like the pelagic cormorants who help arrange nest material for their future siblings, provide a hand (or beak). A collaborative behavior known as alloparenting allows some adult animals to leave their little ones in the care of other grown-ups while they set out to find food: Some penguin species form nursery systems for their chicks because both parents often go to sea together for a day or more to catch fish. But other families, like that of the solitary clouded leopard, make it work without any help at all.
Family can be loving and sweet. Our hearts flip at a flotilla of ducklings paddling furiously behind their mom, or orphaned orangutans in a tight embrace, holding fast to the only family they know.
Family ties are the key to survival—not just for the babies, but also for the species. With so much at stake, many adult animals muster their fiercest behavior to defend their young. When a wolf or bear draws near a muskox herd, the adult oxen turn head-on to show their sharp horns to the intruders. There on the Arctic tundra, they form a defensive circle around their babies, who huddle together inside the furry fortress, safe for another day.
(When elephant moms need help, nannies step in.)
