"'She will come over and act like a little mouse midwife and very carefully, with her mouth and her paws, pull the pup out,' Professor Robert Froemke, from NYU Langone Health, told the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, California."
"'There are a lot of reasons mammals are social, and a primary reason is to help each other out, especially in these really vulnerable periods."
"'Even mice struggle with childbirth and childcare, like we do, and can help others out so it isn't traumatic, maybe kind of like we do.'"
Rodents provide active assistance when pregnant companions experience obstructed labor. Pregnant mice were genetically engineered to lack a hormone essential for triggering strong birth contractions, causing pups to become stuck and endangering both offspring and mothers. Experienced female companions that had previously given birth approached struggling mothers, used their mouths and paws to extract trapped pups, and cleaned the newborns. Companion assistance elevated survival rates from nearly zero without help to roughly ninety percent with experienced helpers. Pairing pregnant females with males or females without prior birthing experience did not produce the same lifesaving effect, indicating prior maternal experience is critical.
Read at Mail Online
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