Sometimes Even a Tiger Needs a Lactation Consultant

The Minnesota Zoo has set up a Tiger Cam to view its two new Amur Tiger cubs who are being raised by zoo keepers until they are old enough to join the adult tigers on view by the public.  They were born this summer at the St. Louis and Minnesota Zoos and as stated on the sign next to the television screen, they're being hand-raised because their mothers were not successful in nursing them.  I had the same reaction that many who I've told this story to had and that was confusion.  As a mom, I know that many humans have one difficulty or another breastfeeding, but shouldn't nursing be natural for animals?  Turns out a couple of tigers ended up reminding me of what I already knew about motherhood.

A volunteer for the zoo happened to be standing nearby answering questions about the tigers, so I asked her why the tigers had difficulty nursing their cubs.  She explained that just like any new mom, animals can be overwhelmed by motherhood and don't necessarily know exactly what to do.  Hmmm, I can identify with that.  Motherhood is a learning curve for anyone.  And yes, there's instinct.  The cubs and moms knew to nurse, but what happens when there's a problem?  Tigers don't have books on breastfeeding and lactation consultants to help troubleshoot.  I'm taking a wild guess that there's only so much a zookeeper can do to help a dangerous animal like a tiger. 

And there was something else I could identify with by living in a society with smaller families who may live farther apart and that is lack of role models.  The volunteer went on to explain that tigers who are raised in captivity or were abandoned as cubs might not have ever seen another tiger raise a cub, so it's simply less likely they'll know what to do. Gosh, I remember how lonely I felt after Oliver was born and how overwhelmed I felt for being completely responsible for the survival of an infant whose existence still seemed surreal for me.  But I also remember a nurse coming into my room after Soren was born and commenting, "This one one clearly isn't your first."  So cut the new moms some slack, tiger or human. 

Learning about the tigers was an aha moment that even in the "natural" animal kindom, not everything comes naturally, even something supposedly instinctual like motherhood and breastfeeding.  Any seasoned mom knows that labor and delivery don't go as planned, breastfeeding sometimes sucks or doesn't work out and a lot of the time we don't know what the heck we're doing.  And if one more person tells us any part of the experience is supposed to "natural", we just might scream (or cry).