When we write words of praise for our mothers and their efforts, we start them with words like “She carried me in her womb for 9 months and she bore me with pain when I was little.” her young ones.

Some animals may take 22 months to conceive, others have to wake up all night to ensure that their offspring breathe well, and others need the help of the females of the herd to take care of their young. From octopuses to elephants, the mothers of the animal world do a lot for the young.

Mothers of the animal world

A female octopus guards her eggs for years

Usually female octopuses guard their eggs for a few months until the young hatch, but in 2011, researchers monitored a female octopus off the coast of central California in the United States who had been guarding her eggs for 4.5 years, the longest growth period recorded for an animal, according to the magazine "PLOS One" (PLOS One). Scientific.

Frilled shark.. pregnancy 3.5 years

Female frilled sharks carry for 3.5 years, according to laboratory studies published in the Japanese Journal of Ichthyology. This type of shark is one of the few types of sharks that do not lay eggs, but give birth, and give birth to 2-10 fish at a time.

A female African elephant is 22 months pregnant

The females of the largest land animal in the world are good mothers even before they give birth to their young, as African elephant pregnancies last about 22 months, which is the longest gestation period known to mammals, so elephants give birth once every two to 4 years, and the period between the two cycles is very long. It reaches 15 to 16 weeks, according to the report of the National Geographic channel, which specializes in the animal world.

Female elephants, the largest land animals in the world, are good mothers even before they give birth to their young (Pixabay)

The giraffe is pregnant for 15 months

Giraffes have a gestation period of 15 months, and they are one of the few large mammals that can become pregnant again while breastfeeding their young, because they spend most of their adult lives pregnant, nursing or becoming pregnant again.

Female killer whale needs help

Killer whales are highly social animals that live in a matriarchal society, with groups or pods usually consisting of 2 to 15 individuals, although some groups have observed up to 40 whales.

The pregnancy of the female killer whale lasts between 15 and 18 months, and once the baby whale is born, the mother gets a lot of help from her sisters to take care of him.

Whereas, whales give birth to one whale at a time, and it may nurse for up to two years, so it gives birth once every 3-10 years.

Once the mother is born, she gets a lot of help from her sisters to take care of the baby whale (Flickr.

Female alpine salamanders can bear 4 years

These amphibians are found in the Alps and spread across western and eastern Europe. Although alpine salamanders are descended from their egg-laying cousins, females of these salamanders give birth and last for two to four years.

Scorpions carry their young on their backs

Scorpions belong to the family of arachnids, but unlike their many-legged relatives, scorpions give birth, and the length of the gestation period varies depending on the species.

As for the imperial scorpion, the female is pregnant for 7 to 9 months before birth, while biologists believe that an African scorpion may be pregnant for 18 months, and as soon as the newborn comes out to life, it rides on the mother’s back until it grows up.

Dolphins don't sleep so the babies can breathe

Usually, mother dolphins do not sleep during the first two months after birth, as she has to monitor her newborn, due to his need to breathe oxygen during sleep. The dolphin is with its mother until it reaches adolescence or maturity between the ages of five and ten, according to the One Green Planet website.

Mother dolphins usually do not sleep during the first two months after birth, as they have to monitor her newborn (pixabay).

female polar bear fasts

In preparation for pregnancy, a female polar bear eats enough to double her body weight, gaining more than 180 kilograms, and usually digs a maternity den in a snowdrift, where she will remain throughout her pregnancy and another two months after the birth of her young, and she fasts for about 8 months.

Upon leaving the den, she must navigate the melting sea ice in search of food to keep herself and her cubs alive for the next two years.