母爱是无与伦比的，而与人类相比，动物王国的妈妈们爱子之心更甚。来看看动物界为子女竭尽所能的十大英雄母亲吧：考拉妈妈每晚为孩子准备“晚餐”，海虱妈妈为了孩子的出生，甚至不惜牺牲自己的生命……在母亲节来临之际，这些动物子女们真应该及时送上一张贺卡，好好感谢母亲！

10. elephant
　　the first mom on our list earns her spot for giving birth to the biggest babies on earth—we're talking an average of 200 pounds here! (can you even imagine a diaper that large?) female elephants also deserve a prize for enduring a 22-month pregnancy. the calves are initially born blind, forcing them to rely on their trunks for navigation4) and discovery, but fortunately, they live in a matriarchal society. once the baby is born, the other "ladies" in the herd all lend a hand, including grandmothers, sisters, aunts and even cousins. these full-time baby-sitters are called "allomothers," and they help in every aspect of rearing the young calves—so in this case, it really does take a village to raise an elephant!

9. koala
　　a female koala only dines on one thing: highly poisonous eucalyptus leaves. her digestive track can tolerate this otherwise deadly treat thanks to bowels that are packed with special bacteria that detoxify the leaves. babies—or joeys—aren't born with these superpowers (not to mention a lack of ears, eyes and fur), but momma koala comes to the rescue and helps them build up their tolerance by feeding them her own feces. once the joeys are born, they spend about six months inside their mother's pouch feeding on milk and forming their missing parts. but this is a mom who won't lose any sleep while nurturing: the female koala gets about 22 hours of shut-eye a day—that's nearly 90 percent of her life spent snoozing!

8. alligator
　　the female alligator has one of the "greenest" pregnancies of the ozone. her nest is a heap of rotting vegetation (the ultimate compost pile!) that produces heat so she doesn't have to sit on her eggs. scientists use special thermometers to monitor the two-month incubation period in these nests, and the heat does more than bring these babies to fruition. if the temperature is less than 88 degrees, break out the pink, but if it tops 91, it's a boy! once the babies are born, the mothers carry them around in their jaw for protection, assisting them to the water, where they will spend their first years eating fish, insects, snails and crustaceans.

7. polar bear
　　male polar bears give females the cold shoulder after mating, leaving the moms-to-be to put on around 400 pounds during their pregnancy! that's a lot of "baby weight." if the female doesn't find enough food to double her weight, her body will actually reabsorb the fetus. after she packs on the pounds, she digs a maternity den (usually in a snowdrift), where she goes into a hibernation-like state, doesn't eat for two months and also sleeps through the baby's birth. newborns are blind and toothless, but super cute, and they generally stay by their mom's side for just two years before being sent out on their own.

6. cheetah
　　patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to being a cheetah mom. at any given time, females usually have four to six cubs to care for, but these kids aren't born with survival instincts. it's up to mom to teach them how to hunt prey and avoid other predators, and this training can take nearly two years to sink in and stick. once the cubs learn to fend for themselves, mom moves on to start a new family, while her offspring left behind form a sibling or "sib" group. the boys will stay together for life, but the females will leave the group six months or so later, as they tend to be solitary and avoid each other.

5. orangutan
　　the highly intelligent orangutan is the ultimate do-it-yourself mom. she spends nearly all her life high up in the trees, where she builds a new nest every single night from branches and foliage, fashioning more than 30,000 homes in her lifetime! she also never puts her babies down, generally nursing offspring until they reach the age 6 or 7—that's the longest dependence of any animal on earth. for the most part, males come around only to mate, and even the baby boys break away more quickly from their mothers than their female counterparts, who often stay longer to learn child-rearing skills.

4. red-knobbed hornbill
　　red-knobbed hornbills utilize holes in trees as their nests. their eggs are a favorite food of monitor lizards, so to combat these predators, the hornbills narrow the entryway to their nests with a very special sealant—their own feces. momma hornbill will stay in her hole for the entire two-month incubation period, ignoring any of her own hunger pains to her detriment.

3. elephant seal
　　the female elephant seal generally weighs in at up to 1,700 pounds! once pregnant, these moms-to-be immediately start to bulk up even more, putting on additional weight during every day of the 11-month gestation period. however, after giving birth, she'll drop about 600 pounds while nursing her cubs in less than a month.

2. octopus
　　when it comes to having babies, the female octopus doesn't mess around—she lays over 50,000 eggs. it takes around 40 days for the eggs to develop before hatching, and the mom stays close to them the entire time, protecting them from predators while gently blowing currents of water over them to provide oxygen. however, playing bodyguard to the eggs also prohibits her from hunting for herself.

1. sea louse
　　sure, she may be just a small aquatic crustacean, but the female sea louse is no. 1 on our list and here's why. first, she's lured by the male into his bachelor burrow for mating where she discovers that she's actually in a harem with 25 other pregnant females! if that wasn't bad enough, once the babies are ready to be born, they make their way into the world by eating her from the inside out. worst. childbirth. ever.

第十名 大象
　　我们榜单上的第一位母亲因为生育地球上最大的婴儿而名至实归——这里所说的重量可是平均200英磅！(你可以想象那么大的一块尿布吗？)雌象的妊娠期长达22个月，凭此一点她也应当受到奖励。象崽刚出生时眼睛是看不见的，它们必须依靠象鼻来引路和探知世界，所幸的是它们生活在母系社会。象宝宝一生下来，象群中的其他“女士”，包括祖母、姐妹、阿姨甚至表姐妹，都会伸出援手。这些全职保姆们被称为“养母”，她们全方位参与养育幼象的工作——所以这样一来，养育一头象真的需要整个象群的参与！

第九名考拉
    雌考拉只吃一样东西：剧毒无比的桉树叶子。她的消化道能承受这种通常而言致命的食物，是因为她的肠内充满了可以分解桉树叶毒性的特殊细菌。幼考拉并不是生来就具备这种超凡的能力(更不用说它们没有耳朵、眼睛以及皮毛)，但是考拉妈妈会帮助它们，通过给它们喂食自己的粪便协助它们建立起承受能力。幼考拉生下来后，要在母亲的育儿袋里待上大约6个月，吸食母乳并逐渐将那些生来缺陷的部分发育完全。但袋鼠妈妈却是一位在育儿过程中也绝不愿少睡一会儿的母亲：雌考拉一天中有22个小时是闭着眼睛的——她生命中接近90％的时间都在打瞌睡。

第八位 短吻鳄
　　雌短吻鳄拥有整个臭氧层“最绿色的”怀孕方式之一。她的窝就是一堆能发热的腐烂植物(真正的堆肥！)，这样一来她就不需要自己孵蛋了。科学家使用特殊的温度计来监测两个月孵蛋期内这些窝里的温度，结果发现热量的作用不仅限于孵化幼鳄。如果温度低于华氏88度，生下的就是雌鳄(编者注：英语中常用pink形容小女孩，blue形容小男孩)，但是如果温度到达华氏91度则是雄鳄！幼鳄一出生，鳄妈妈们就用自己的颚保护着它们到处走，帮助它们下水，鳄鱼宝宝们起初的几年就是在水里捕食鱼类、昆虫、蜗牛和甲壳类动物。

第七名 北极熊
　　雄北极熊在交配后就对雌北极熊不理不睬，任凭准妈妈们在妊娠期间体重增加400多英磅！增加的“婴儿体重”可真够多的。如果雌北极熊找不到足够的食物使体重翻倍，她的身体就会把胎儿重新吸收消化掉。体重增加后，她就给自己挖一个产房(通常是在雪堆里)，并进入一个类似冬眠的状态，两个月不吃不喝，即使整个分娩的过程也都是保持睡眠状态。幼熊是看不见东西的，也没有牙齿，但是超级可爱。通常它们只会在妈妈身边待上两年，之后就会被母亲“逐出家门”，自谋生路了。

第六名 猎豹
　　耐心是美德，当猎豹的妈妈尤其如此。在任何时候，雌猎豹通常都要照顾4~6只幼崽，但是这些幼崽出生时都没有生存本能。雌猎豹要教它们如何捕食猎物和避开其他的食肉动物，而这种训练要进行近两年的时间才能被幼崽领会，并显现成效。一旦幼崽学会了自力更生，妈妈们就要离开，去建立一个新的家庭，而被留下来的后代则会形成一个族群。雄猎豹会终生群居在一起，而雌性猎豹在大约6个月后就会离开，因为她们往往会变得离群，不愿与其他猎豹共处。

第五名 猩猩
     猩猩十分聪明，是真正亲力亲为的母亲。她几乎一辈子都生活在高高的树上，每晚用树枝和绿叶搭筑一个新巢，她一生建造的家超过三万个！她也从不将宝宝放下来，通常她会一直照顾宝宝，直到它们长到六七岁的时候——育儿期比地球上其他任何一种动物都还要长。大部分时候，雄猩猩只有在交配的时候才过来，甚至雄性幼猩也比雌性幼猩更早地离开母亲，雌性幼猩留在母亲身边的时间更长，以学习育儿技巧。
     
第四名 红冠犀鸟
     红冠犀鸟以树洞为巢。它们的蛋是巨蜥喜欢的食物，因此为了抵挡这些食肉动物，犀鸟们用一种特殊的密封剂——它们自己的粪便，将巢穴的入口通道弄窄。犀鸟妈妈们在长达两个月的孵卵期都待在洞里，全然不顾折磨自己的饥饿之痛。
        

第三名海象
     雌海象的体重通常高达1700英磅！一旦怀孕，这些准妈妈们立即开始进一步“发福”，11个月的孕期内，她们的体重每天都会增加。但是，一旦生育过后，在抚养幼崽不到一个月的时间内，她们的体重就会下降约600英磅。
   
第二名章鱼
     提到生儿育女，雌章鱼可是一点也不会浪费时间——她会产下超过五万颗卵。这些卵在孵化出来之前需要发育40天左右，在此期间，雌章鱼都严守在一旁，保护它们免入食肉动物之口，同时为它们轻送水波以提供氧气。但是，为这些卵站岗放哨使得她自己无暇觅食。
        

第一名海虱
    的确，她可能不过是一种小型水生甲壳类动物，但是雌海虱高居榜首的原因如下：首先，她被雄性海虱骗入其单身洞穴交配时才发现，她只是其这只雄性海虱众多妻妾中的一员，还有其他25只已经怀孕的雌性海虱也在洞中！如果这还不算太糟，一旦幼海虱准备好要出生了，它们来到世间的方式就是从海虱妈妈里面把她吃穿。这真是有史以来最痛苦的分娩！