Do animals love their kids?

Society Religion & Philosophy
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I wonder if they love them or just take care of them cause its built into their genes to do that. What do you think?

is emotion part of their personality - or faithfulness (to their master, partner, kids, gang) is more of a program that kicks in when needed?

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

I think it is built into them...Well...I think mammals do, not all animals care abt their kids...but I think it is up to a certain extent, and even in mammals it is the female who most of the time cares for the young..coz the males might even try to kill the young if they feel threatened (their territory).

I think they are also more faithful to their herd or pack they are in.

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

I think loving the offspring is built in or genetically programmed in mammals and humans. Their goal is to continue their lineage, which means they want their genes to remain in the population. And one way of doing that is reproducing as much as possible and then making sure that their offspring live to have high fecundity. Also, the animals that work in gangs or stay together as families/relatives have the same concept behind helping each other (kinship) because again, their relatives are more likely to have the same genes than unrelated animals. So yes, they are faithful/loving but their behavior is driven by their intrinsic need to propagate their lineage. At the basic level, it is an instinct.

Which makes me wonder, if adoption exists in the animal world..it probably does in apes.

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

Humans are different. Humans don't leave thier kids once kids can walk and feed themselves or once the kids are all grown up. Humans are there when thier kids have kids and be happy when they are happy and sad when kids are sad. Plus humans express their emotions differently when you comapare two humans. That is why you don't see a documentary like march of the penguins about humans. Human emotions are not predictable while animals for most of the part live a very predictable life

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

Yes, humans are different in that in addition to the basic instinct, we have an added dimension of extensive reasoning and extensive emotion. So, we have the ability to counteract or reinforce our instinct as deemed appropriate by us/each individual. That’s why one difference is that we don’t reproduce as much as possible and like you said, we don’t leave our kids etc. And there are many more.

I still think that animals do have some level of reasoning and emotion, albeit instinctive (but still much less than us). I found an interesting link on wiki- the section titled Examples of Altruism in Animals.

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

To know whether they love their kids or not,attmpt an intrusion in to the domain of a dog or snake with it's kids/eggs.

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

Yesterday a pigeon came to my patio, she was flying so hard that it hit the door and died.Her child came looking after her and looked at her with sad eyes and left. And it happened in front of my eyes, I felt so sorry for mom and then her child.:(
You are the judge TLK bhaii

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

Yes and No.

We are animals too by the way. (Haywaan-e- Naatiq)

Just like we human harm our children directly or indirectly, other animals do that too.

A male cat would eat his own babies unless the female cat fights and protects the kittens.

A male human or female human being does or can hate his or her children. Sadly.

Humans are not so superior in this sense, unfortunately.

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

But that could be programming. All animals are programmed to defend themselves and their kids

Was the baby pigeon sad or you thought it was sad :D

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

Peace TLK

Please define "love"

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

I believe theres more than we know about how animals feel:

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

Exactly Pysah…that is what I was going to ask TLK as well

LOVE = ??

I am sure if you ask several psychologists, they will explain it
differently.
And if you look at Islamic view, Love is defined as well.
Islamically speaking love in human beings has protection, care, provision, jealousy, sincerity, reward all built in.
However, Allah’s Love is considered pure and does not demand reward.
Similarly animal love is also defined through narrations of the prophet s.a.w.

I believe animals have love for their offspring, mates, and caring masters who provide them food and care.
However, the aspect of LOVE that we as humans are taught to acquire and possess, is THE virtue that is supposed to separate us from Animals. That aspect is the virtue of self sacrifice. Animals don’t normally display that charateristic. When they do, such as in the case of dogs who defend their master against attackers etc. is rare and quite extraordinary.
Here is a nice article that discusses this topic in relation to a sheep.
http://therealowner.com/pets/raising-pets-why-some-animals-abandon-their-young/

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

Excellent question Psyah and Antumul (and a very difficult one too). The aspect of love that I am talking about is when we miss each other, when we become restless when we see someone that we love in pain. I am not talking about reaction to protect someone like an antivirus program kicks in when detects a danger, but more like when you get up at night, go to your kids room to check if they are well tucked in and warm in their bed.

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

^^ TLK - Yes , I believe those are present in animals. However, it varies. Just like it does in humans.
However, some may possess more of these feelings, then the other animals due to our brain function and subsequent emotional setup. Ever heard that phrase, “Humans are social animals”. So human being are more socially dependant then the other animals species.
Most animal mothers have their young sleep on them or next to them in a snug way. Which is exactly how humans are supposed to be as well, however, our sense of responsibility lasts much much longer. Even in human beings some mothers are less concerned then others. wouldn’t you agree?
However, their innate sense of self preservation overrides their sense of social responsibility.
How many times, have you heard a story where a man or woman dying of thirst was saved by an animal bringing them water or let alone dragging them to water or leading them there etc…
While, there are countless stories of people going above and beyond to save a thirsty, hungry, freezing animal.

Here is a nice photo saga of a puppy and a cat trying to save each other by snuggling even though they are traditional innate foes to survive in the bitter cold…obvioulsy these scenes are rare…
however they do exist and show a deep rooted COMMON quality in all creatures of GOD (Allah)

http://your-free-photos.com/Cold-Puppy-Needs-Warm-Cat.jpg

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Re: Do animals love their kids?

Jesus........

Boss seriously ?.... I knew, only wild life ppl from karachi have seen is crows.

But this is too much....

come on... are you serious???