animal fathers

Great Horned Owl

The most common owl in North and South America, the great horned owl is a hard-working partner and father. In late winter, while his mate stays on the nest with their clutch of two or three eggs, the male heads off to find food for both of them, carrying rats, mice, and squirrels back to the nest. Once the chicks hatch, his job gets harder—he now has to feed an additional two or three mouths.



Greater Flamingos

Flamingo males are both loving husbands and attentive fathers. They congregate in flocks that can number in the hundreds of thousands, but flamingos generally remain monogamous for life. A male dutifully follow his spouse's lead in selecting a nesting site and then aids in the construction of the mud nest. Both take turns incubating their single egg and defending the nest, and both share duties in rearing the hatchling.



Greater Rhea

The male rhea, a large, flightless bird from South America related to the ostrich, has a bit of a wandering eye when it comes to mating. But no one could accuse him of being an absentee dad. Each mating season, male rheas build a nest and invite the members of their harem, up to 15 females, to deposit their eggs. The females then go off to look for other mates while the male stays to incubate the clutch, which can contain 25 to 50 eggs. For six weeks the father eats little and rarely leaves the nest. He then rears the hatchlings, defending them aggressively and charging any animal—even a female rhea—that approaches too closely.



Seahorse

It's true that male seahorses never play catch with their children or help them with their homework. But they do outdo human dads on one count—by giving birth. Seahorses are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young, a unique trait in these fish that inhabit tropical and temperate coastal waters worldwide.

Male seahorses are equipped with a brood pouch on their ventral, or front-facing, side. When mating, the female deposits her eggs into his pouch, and the male fertilizes them internally. He carries the eggs in his pouch until they hatch, then releases fully formed, miniature seahorses into the water.



Just-Hatched Froglets
Photograph by George Grall

Doing his fatherly duty, a male Oreophryne frog in Papua, New Guinea, cradles his clutch and two newly hatched froglets. Each night the male Oreophryne embraces the egg mass, possibly to keep it moist or to protect it from small predators like insects.



Silverback Mountain Gorilla
Photograph by Michael Nichols

Adult male gorillas, called silverbacks, play the role of stern patrician. As the leader of a family group that can be as large as 30 individuals, they will lead their underlings to food, settle disputes within the clan, and fight to repel outside threats, particularly from other male gorillas, who will kill babies when seeking to usurp a silverback's group. They will also play affectionately with their offspring but will often turn nasty if a youngster pesters too stubbornly or an adolescent male challenges for dominance.

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