Will the cubs that have become independent in animals still know their mothers after some years? The reality is surprising

People often talk about canines and felines, so I'll take the common dog and the oft-discussed lion as examples of independent cubs that can still recognize their mothers several years later. In the animal world, each animal has unique skills, in fact, not only dogs and lions, but most other animals, can also easily identify their relatives because they all have the "superpower" that people can not hope for.

About dogs and their "superpowers"

Dogs are domesticated from wolves, and after a long period of domestication and training, they have become humane animals and the most loyal friends of human beings. Dogs do not speak, they do not communicate with their mouths, and sniffing each other's buttocks (anus), is an important means for them to get information.

The human anus, even their dislike, the dog's anus, no dog dislike. In the dog's anus, there are two pinhole-sized holes, the small hole straight through the rectum, the rectum in a small sac, which is the medium of dog communication - anal glands.

As the dog's baby, the anal glands secrete and release important chemical recognition information. One small pore secretes a glandular fluid of mainly multiple short-chain acids, this glandular fluid is the dog's identity, it can represent the dog's sex, mood, food, physique, and health status. The other secretes sebaceous glandular fluid, which is used by dogs to lubricate the anus for health care.

Have a dog are familiar with, the dog every time you go out, will be in a different place to pee or defecate, sometimes, but also to sniff around, the dog has no other meaning, it does so, just want to make friends. This has to be said, the dog's "superpower", it has an incomparably powerful sense of smell.

The dog's olfactory organs are very powerful and sensitive, its nasal cavity captures a variety of odor particles in the organ, a total area of 170 square centimeters, can produce 125 ~ 220 million olfactory cells, while humans can only produce a maximum of more than 5 million.

The dog's two nostrils, which can also operate separately, one for exhalation and one for inhalation, can also be performed simultaneously, and its nose can capture ultra-low concentrations of odors. According to research, the dog can recognize more than 2 million odors, it recognizes odors, even to a terrifying molecular level.

Scientists have also experimented with diluting sulfuric acid to one part in ten million, and the dog was able to successfully sniff out the smell it needed. Throwing eggs into a cesspool, dogs can also find them in a short time. Dogs communicate with each other mainly by smell, if you find them sniffing each other's butt, it means they are communicating with each other.

Butt sniffing is a way for dogs to socialize, they can be friends with each other or ignore each other. It can smell the sex hormones released by each other through the butt, which is a courtship signal. It can take each other's pulse, and if the other is suffering from gastrointestinal disease or inflammation, it can bark to send a message to its owner.

One more thing, dogs sniffing buttocks is a genetic problem of the species, from the birth of the puppy, the mother dog will use the mouth, and "heart" to care for the puppy's buttocks, and sometimes lick to help the puppy defecate. This habit, has been engraved in the genes and bones of the dog for generations, they know, can touch my head, but never touch my butt.

So, no matter where it is, the dog is constantly releasing many signals through its anal glands. The scent of his butt fusion is his "ID" card, which allows other dogs to quickly determine who he is.

In the animal kingdom, each animal is deliberately trying to avoid inbreeding, the dog because of the smell of relatives to linger, does not have high moral values. Together with being domesticated, as well as human intervention, between dogs, the probability of inbreeding is relatively high, and sometimes, it can spill over to their mothers. Could it be that dogs, when they grow up, do not recognize their mothers?

To better prove it, Professor Peter Hepper of the School of Psychology at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland has experimented on "dogs finding their mothers", and the results show that dogs can recognize their mothers. Let's take a look.

Professor Peter deliberately selected three kinds of pups with high IQs, namely German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, and Labrador, all between 4 and 6 weeks old.

At first, she locked the puppy's mother and the mother of the same breed and age in separate rooms and then asked the puppies to go to their mothers. 84% of the puppies preferred to go outside their mother's room and stay for a long time.

In the second experiment, the mothers were replaced with siblings of the puppies and other puppies of the same age. As a result, 67% of the pups approached their siblings first, and the others gradually approached their relatives after a short stay.

In the third trial, the professor made it more difficult by placing a towel in the litter of the puppy's mother and relatives, as well as in the litter of other mothers and other children, and leaving it for two days for the puppies to find the smell of their mothers and relatives. As a result, 82% of the pups were able to quickly find the towel with their mother's scent, and 70% of the pups were able to identify the towel with their sibling's scent remaining.

In the fourth trial, the difficulty increased again when she separated a group of 8-week-old puppies from their mothers completely and waited until two years later before allowing these former puppies to find the towel with their mothers' scent. At the same time, there were other mothers and relatives of the same breed and age confused among them.

The fourth result showed that 76% of these two-year-olds could identify the towel with their mother's smell, while 78% of the mothers, too, could identify the smell of their children.

In summary, the experiment proves that dogs have a powerful sense of smell, regardless of age, or the passage of years, they can identify, once engraved taste. Because each dog's anal gland is a unique symbol of its identity, it does not disappear with time, just like the unique DNA of humans.

And then there is the lion, and will it grow up to know its mother?

The lion is the dominant animal in the African savanna, and it has always been a subject of controversy between it and the tiger. As the two most perfect felines, both are kings, the tiger is solitary, the lion for the group, in single combat, the tiger prevails, in group combat, the lion is majestic. However, in contrast, the lion, who lives in pride, seems to be more tragic than the tiger, who lives alone.

In pride, the lion king is the leader, and there are several other male lions recognized by the lion king, several to two dozen female lions, and immature lion cubs. In general, the number of lions in the pride is often between 8 and 30.

There is a clear division of labor and hierarchy in the pride, with hunting being the business of the lionesses and the males only responsible for defending their homes. At feeding time, the lion king eats first, followed by the male lion, then the female lion, and finally the cubs.

The lion's fate is sealed from the moment it is born.

The lion cubs are nursed by the lioness until they are half a year old. Between the ages of half and two, they gradually practice their hunting skills, and with the priority ranking of food, up to 70% of the cubs die at this stage for various reasons. At about two years of age, lion cubs are fully developed in all aspects of their bodies, and at this time, they will take different paths in life because of their gender.

The female cubs are recognized by the lion king and mother, and they learn mature hunting skills and remain in the pride, becoming the backbone of the hunt and an important guarantee of the population's prosperity.

The male lion cubs, at about two years of age, are more fully developed in all aspects of their bodies, and their physique is similar to that of an adult male lion. At this time, the lion king consolidated their position, but also reduced inbreeding brought about by the decline of the population, it will take the initiative to drive this part of the male lions, and asked them to strictly forbade roaming around the territory.

After being driven away, the male lions will be left alone without their pride and will be subjected to various beatings by the various forces of the savannah. The powerful ones, allied to challenge the lion king, win, able to replace the old lion king, have their lion pride, defeated, we continue to wander, to build up strength for the next challenge.

This is how the life of a wandering male lion is, week in and week out, it has been struggling. According to statistics, it is difficult for the expelled male lions to live to their old age, with an overall survival rate of less than 30%.

The African savannah is vast, and the likelihood of an encounter between a stray male lion and his mother's pride is relatively small. But there are always narrow encounters, and the lion king changes on average once every 2 to 3 years. There are also examples of expelled male lions challenging the new lion king in the original pride.

When the male lion replaces the lion king, he will naturally meet his mother and also his former sisters. At this point, like the reunion of long-lost relatives, male lions, and their relatives, will be close to intimacy and communication.

According to research, the average age of a lion in the wild is 16 years old, and when a male lion is expelled at the age of about two, the body organs are more fully developed, equivalent to 12 to 16 years old for humans.

Plus felines, like canines, have an incomparably powerful sense of smell. During the male lion's first two years, all in the lion pride, he has long kept his mother and sister's scent in mind, and when they meet again, they will be able to identify each other by smell.

There is a documentary in which a young male lion has been driven away and wanders alone. After a few years, through human intervention, this male lion stumbles upon his mother and sisters.

In the recorded footage, the male lion and his mother stare at each other for a long time, the male lion capturing the taste of "home" and the mother protecting her cubs behind her. However, the male lion, eager to say hello to his mother, carefully leaned over and sniffed her with his nose. At this point, the mother also dropped her guard and touched the male lion with her nose, followed by them sniffing and rubbing against each other.

The male lion and his mother recognized each other and they both remembered each other's smell. After that, the male lion sniffed his mother again, touched her, turned his head, and walked away. This time, the male lion went farther away, perhaps because the genes in his body told him that he could not have too much intercourse with his mother, nor could he stay in the territory for a long time, or the lion king would be on fire and thunder.

Another example is a post on Baidu, titled "Marching Against the Wind of Destiny - Following the Footsteps of the Charleston Brothers", about a foster mother (female lion) raising three cubs (lion cubs).

The post records that one female lion cub was lost after more than a year, and the other two continued to grow. When the two male lions grew up, the female lion turned her head and integrated into pride because she was in heat, while the two males wandered the grasslands. However, the two male lions did not forget their "mother" who had grown up with them, and they would come back to be close to their "mother" and even play with their "mother's" cubs. And all of this is done by a strong sense of smell, to capture the familiar smell.

Stray male lion coming back to play with his nephew

As we can see above, lions, as felines, also have an unparalleled olfactory organs. When male lions wander alone, when they meet their mothers or sisters again, they will also rely on each other's scent to recognize each other, because this is engraved in their bone's muscle memory.

Animals have their own unique "superpowers", they understand the survival of the fittest and the survival of nature. In the long run, they have formed a tacit agreement in their hearts, a tacit agreement that inbreeding will persecute the population.

As a result, many animals will passively or actively break away from their kin as adults. This is the case, for example, with male tigers, camels, elephants, rats, antelopes, and so on.

And animals belong to the adult or near-adult state before they detach themselves from their relatives, just like humans. An 18-year-old person who leaves his parents will know his parents when they meet again even if 10, 20, or more years have passed. Not to mention the animals with a strong sense of smell, touch, sight, or hearing.