#1 Tiny Stray, Very Pregnant. This Girl Came Up To My Son In The Street Distressed Yesterday. She Is Maybe 1 Year Old Per Vet
#2 Pregnant Doggo Waits By The Window For Her Husband To Return Home From The War
If you think nine months is a long time to be pregnant, spare a thought for the elephant mamas out there. They carry their offspring for almost two years before giving birth. The huge animals have the longest pregnancies of all mammals. But the 22 month gestation period is not just because of their size. Baby ellies need to stay in the womb that long for their incredible brains to develop properly.
#6 My Name Is Somboon. You’ll All Know Me As The Pregnant Elephant That, With Sri Nuan Marched The "Walk To Freedom In May 2019"
Elephants are smart. Some would argue they’re even smarter than a few humans (read: poachers). Their brains have three times as many neurons as humans. And the babies are born really bright. Like really, really bright. Think about human babies for a minute. What can they do? Not much at all. For quite a while. They need help feeding, dressing, bathing, moving around, even burping. An elephant on the other hand is born ready. It’s able to keep up with the herd from the minute it's born. Scientists say this is all thanks to the extended time in mom’s womb.
#9 Poor Rosemary Is Still Pregnant. She Can't Walk Very Far Anymore But She Is Still Very Active And Babies Are Still Feeling Very Lively. I Don't Think I Can Watch Her Get Any Bigger Than This
Fairly recent research has found that mother elephants don’t miss a beat while pregnant. Or even shortly after. Rest? Ain't no mommy got time for that. Researchers from Oxford University worked with Save The Elephants to take a closer look at pregnancy and birth among African elephants. They put gps trackers on the giants and were amazed by what they found.
#11 She Must Be Ready For This Baby (Or Babies) To Be Born! She Is So Big, But Seems Unfazed By It
#12 I Work At A Doggy Daycare And We Foster For A Local Bully Rescue. This Is Our Newest Foster, Sydney. She Was Pulled From The County Shelter And Is Pregnant
According to the university, “the average daily speed of the mother did not significantly change during pregnancy, birth and when moving with a newborn calf, except for a small dip in daily speed on the day of birth itself.” It turns out the mother elephants were just as fast the day before giving birth, as they were the day after.
"We speculate that this ability ‘to keep up’ may underpin why elephants have the longest gestation period [pregnancy] of any mammal in order to facilitate an advanced state of foetal physical development, and may have evolved to help elephant herds stay together," the lead author, Dr Lucy Taylor from the University of Oxford is quoted as saying.
#13 I Caught A Friendly Pregnant Kitty On Monday. She’s Getting Used To Being Inside. Here’s Some Pics Of Her Outside And Then Inside
She’s settling down but won’t go on any blankets or towels, she’s afraid of them! I hope I can get her used to something soft so she can have her babies on something other than the hard floor.
She’s leaking milk so she’ll have them soon! I’m so nervous for her, she’s just a baby having babies. I’ll get her fixed then find the best homes for her babies.
She’s so so sweet.
#14 Juno's Piglets Are On Their Way A Little Sooner Than Expected! Any Day Now, She'll Be Ready
#15 She's Wild, But I've Known Her And Fed Her For 2.5 Years. She's Pregnant Again, Likely The Matriarch Of The Dozens Of Sage Lizards That Grace My Yard
On the other end of the preggie spectrum (for mammals) is an animal called the Virginia opossum, found in North America. And the rare water opossum, found in South America. According to Guinness World Records, “On rare occasions, gestation periods of as low as eight days have been recorded for some of these species.”
#18 Arwen Is A Sassy Little Blob Mama To Be. Amazing How Much She's Changed In A Week. Already Getting Chubbier, And She Barely Moves From Her Favorite Stick All Day. I Don't Blame Her
The marsupial moms can have up to 13 babies at a time. Unlike elephants, the babies are far from ready for life when they’re born. After birth, they crawl straight into their mother’s pouch. They stay there for at least two months. They keep cozy, nursing and feeding until they’re ready to face the big, wide world.
According to the the Wildlife Center of Virginia, “after two months, baby opossums open their eyes, and after a couple more weeks, start to emerge from the pouch and ride around on their mother’s back.” Opossums are only independent when they reach about four months old.
