I LOVE MOM

Mothers in the animal kingdom tend to their babies just as human mothers do.

Whether it’s keeping their young warm (piping plover), helping them move about (dolphin, gazelle), or providing a pouch for them (koala, kangaroo), animal mothers do a lot for their children. Covering two-thirds of each spread is a high-quality stock photo of the mother-baby pair (except for a lone baby orangutan practicing independence), sometimes whole bodies, sometimes close-ups. Set against the remainder of the spread, against a tone-on-tone patterned background, is an anthropomorphized “quote” from the child (cheetah: “I’m just going to stretch my legs and rest my chin on your head. You don’t mind, do you, Mom?”) and a short paragraph of information about the species, most explaining how the mother cares for her child, though these vary in the quality of the informational content (about polar bears: “Their white color helps to camouflage them in the snow,” but they are actually black with transparent hair). Companion title I Love Dad is similar, presenting 14 animal dad-and-baby pairs. These include emperor penguins, sea horses, and Darwin’s frogs and jawfish, both of which keep their tadpoles/eggs in their mouths for safekeeping. Several of the dads are shown to be sharing caretaking duties with the female instead of having specific roles of their own.

A look at parenthood in the animal kingdom that will have readers poring over the photos.