Paternity is exercised depending the animal species. In the case of our animals, the parents who take most care of their offspring are marmosets, siamangs, dholes and martinets.
The marmosets, siamang, dholes and martinets are our animals that are most involved in the process of raising their offspring.
In addition to these species, especially stands out the dholes that are extremely careful with their offspring and the most prolific at the time of having offspring.
The dholes males are paired with a female for the rest of their lives and collaborates in the breeding phase to the point that they come to participate with the female in the choice of the burrow. When the female is about to give birth and during the first days after the birth, the male brings her food so she does not have to leave the burrow. Once the female starts to leave, the father takes care of the puppies. The dhole is in danger of extinction and is included in appendix II of the Cites.
The progenitors of this species show a lot of interest for the puppies and encourage them to leave the burrow to take their first steps. They are also responsible for providing them with the necessary food through regurgitation. At the moment, in Terra Natura Benidorm there are eight specimens of dhole, although the family is expected to expand soon because there are females in the group that are in the gestational period.
On the contrary, among the species with less parental instinct are rhinos, goats, mouflons, chitals or bats. These animals do not carry out any kind of care for their offspring, and the whole burden of parenting falls on the mothers. In the case of felines, parents sometimes can even suppose a threat for the young ones if they feel they can be an opponent.
In these species, the females assume full breeding, from feeding to the protection of the offspring. In some cases, they leave the offspring in the burrow or in the nest while the mothers go out in search of food. In other cases, the baby stays with the mother from the first moment.