Across lands, waters and desserts, nature is full of interesting stories of dads. Dads of the animal kingdom are interesting in particular, there are some who starve in order to take care of their infants; those who stand behind their young in the most threatening situations, and many more.

Thus, in honour of Father’s Day, let us peek into the animal kingdom and see some animals who have outrun the mums in taking care of their young. These proud fathers play an integral role in raising their offspring along with — or sometimes in place of — the mother.

Though the list was very long, below are some of the most interesting ones!

Marmoset

Marmosets look cute because they are small and furry. What happens is that after a few weeks of giving birth, mama marmoset shows no interest in raising her kids. This is where daddy marmoset takes over as a caring father.

The little furry dad grooms, feeds and gives piggyback rides to his infants until they are old enough to take care of themselves.

Emperor penguins

There are very few examples in nature in which animals have gone far beyond their tendency to bear and remain dedicated to their offspring and emperor penguins are one of those.

After the female lays an egg, her nutritional reserves are almost over, she is exhausted and unable to look after the egg. She returns to the ocean to feed and regain strength for at least two months. This is where the dad comes in the picture, now he is solely responsible for the eggs, which need warmth in the freezing Antarctic winter.

The dad spends two months holding the egg carefully between the tops of his feet and his brooding pouch. Imagine the brutal Antarctic winter! What is more astonishing is that the father emperor penguin doesn’t eat anything throughout these two months! And, if the mum is not back by the time the egg is hatched, the dad emperor penguin keeps lovingly rearing the chick. Dad, you are literally great!

Rheas

Rheas is an ostrich-like large flightless bird. Just like emperor penguins, rheas male also dedicate their time and energy in incubating as many as 50 eggs at a time for six weeks. Rheas are also responsible for building the nest and raising the chicks for the first six months without seeking any assistance from their mother. Quite impressive!

African jacanas

Male jacanas do all the hard work of making the nest, incubating the eggs and when the chicks are out from the eggs, they rear them under their wings.

Male jacanas are smaller than their females. However, size does not matter when it comes to protecting your children from the enemies and providing them food. Good jacanas!

Gorilla

Gorilla is considered a real father figure in the animal kingdom. He is in charge of the clan of up to as many as 30 gorillas. His duties include finding the food for his family and protecting the clan and his offspring.

Apart from that, he is very respectful of the mother of his children; he always dines with her first before letting the kids join in on the meal. Gorilla spends a good time with his offspring, playing lovingly and often settling arguments between siblings.

You must have seen a gorilla beating his chest on TV, he does this to fend off any threats and sometimes to give a warning to the kids as well as the enemies in sight.

Flamingos

Flamingos are an outstanding example for believing in gender equality, which is very rare in the animal kingdom.

How? Well, first, the male flamingo helps mum to select a nesting site, and together they construct the nest out of mud. Once the egg is laid, the father shares in the responsibility of incubating the egg, and during this time, both birds carefully lift and turn the egg with their bills.

They also take turns sitting on the nest and once the hatchling is out, both mum and dad share all parenting duties equally.

Golden lion tamarin

Male golden lion tamarin does his best in bringing up his offspring. He takes care of the babies by carrying them (usually twins) on his back in between feedings, giving ample time to mama tamarin to rest.

The infants ride on their father’s back until they are six or seven weeks old. Then they start eating soft food; interestingly, this is again a father’s job to peel and mash bananas and hand feed his offspring.

Marine animals

Life underwater is different from that on land, so are the animals living deep below the water surface. It is a tough environment and life for these creatures is a constant survivor challenge. That is why parenting behaviour is also different. However, some marine life dads have exceptionally dedicated their life to their young; let’s find out who are these exceptional father figures:

Hardhead catfish

Hardhead catfish is a saltwater fish. They have one of the most bizarre reproductive cycles in the animal kingdom. When the female lays eggs, the dad fish gobbles the eggs entirely in his mouth, who takes special care not to accidentally swallow the children.

Inside his mouth, the marble-sized eggs stay safe and sound, for months or until they hatch and grow to nearly five centimetres long!

Because having a mouth full of squirming offspring, he doesn’t eat, so gradually, the male has to live off his own body fat until the young are old enough to take off on their own. But sometimes, unfertilised eggs may serve as a food source for the father.

Three-spined stickleback

The three-spined stickleback is obsessed with its nest. This small fish painstakingly builds his nest by gluing sand, algae and other small debris together with a sticky protein secreted from his kidneys. After the female lays her eggs, the male will chase her away so he can fertilise the eggs and guard them until they hatch. He will even remove fungus-infected eggs and fan these eggs to keep them properly oxygenated.

Lumpsucker

A lumpsucker male fish takes the responsibility of making the nest. The female arrives, deposits her eggs and takes off for the open ocean. Then comes the male and begins his duty of watching and caring for his young.

Lumpsucker uses a suction pad formed from his pelvic fins to attach to a nearby rock and stand guard over the eggs for up to eight weeks. He uses his fins to fan oxygen-rich water over the eggs and fiercely defend the nest against potential predators.

Sea spiders

You will be amazed to know that sea spiders have extra pair of legs for a special purpose. Wonder what it is? Well, when the female lays eggs, the male picks them up and carries these eggs on these extra pair of legs with him until they hatch — and once they are hatched he’ll actually let them crawl all over him and live in his carapace until they are strong enough to no longer need his protection.

Cardinalfish

Just like the hardhead catfish, once the female lays eggs, cardinalfish also scoop these eggs up in his mouth for protection. During this time the dad actually starves, he won’t spit out his young except to occasionally clean them and promote water circulation, but he never sneaks out for a snack.

Some cardinalfish dads even go a step further and brood their young after they hatch, using their mouths to protect the small fish until they are simply too big to fit in.

Frogs and toads

Most frog and toad species have dedicated dads. Some male frogs keep their tadpoles in their mouths until the tadpoles are able to make it on their own. While the pouched frog carries its offspring in a pouch on their belly, much like kangaroos or possums do. Other amphibian fathers implant their spawn under their skin, usually on the backs of their legs.

Seahorse

Seahorses are famous for the rarer phenomena in which the male carries the eggs in a pouch on its stomach. After the eggs hatch in the pouch, the father cares for the young as they grow, regulating the water salinity in the pouch to prepare them for life in the sea.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 19th, 2021