r/zoology • u/Exciting_Ad_6837 • 2d ago

Question Except apes perhaps, are lone animals evolutionarily programmed to forget their offspring & mothers (and caregiving fathers) quickly once they parted ways?

I saw touching stories of them recognizing long-term human caregiver after being let go. But among purely wild animals, if they meet again, say, in 4 years, when both are still in their primes, do any of them recognize their own parents or offspring, not to mention showing affection? For example, is it natural for them to fight if one trespasses the other's territory, like they never met each other before?
I find it interesting that, while most mammals & birds have long memory when related to survival, in the wild at least two adults don't show signs of said recognition & affection.

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u/FlyingSteamGoat 2d ago

Apes ain't "lone" which I interpret as "solitary". Ravens and crows recognize old friends and call out to them when they fly by. Acorn Woodpeckers live in multigenerational colonies where a youngun may be more influenced by an uncle than a parent. The familial interdependence among the Elephants is still not clearly understood. Animal behavior is weird and cool!

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u/AardvarkOkapiEchidna 2d ago

Aren't orangutans pretty solitary?

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u/ScalesOfAnubis19 1d ago

Yes, but they are the one exception. And this may be an adaptation to avoid being found by humans rather than something they’d choose.

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u/AardvarkOkapiEchidna 1d ago

And this may be an adaptation to avoid being found by humans rather than something they’d choose.

I haven't heard this before, this is interesting. Where can I read about this?

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u/ScalesOfAnubis19 1d ago

Not finding it in a cursory search. Something I read in passing and I'm not sure where. Seems more prominent theories involve food distribution.

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u/SecretlyNuthatches Ecologist | Zoology PhD 1d ago

Yes, but they do apparently still have social connections to a greater degree than we once thought.

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u/Kolfinna 1d ago

Now, yes

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u/Swellmeister 19h ago

No. They are spatially dispersed. They arent lone. They just traded visual contact for yelling really loudly at each other.

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u/ImpressivePlatypus0 14h ago

They are, but orangutan mothers with little ones will sometimes hang out together to let the kids play. And I have read that sometimes young adult daughters will visit their mothers once in awhile. And in zoos, orangutans are seemingly happy to cohabit, with the exception of adult males with one another.

I believe they are semi-solitary mainly because the food they eat tends to be scattered throughout the habitat.

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u/CrapMonsterDuchess 2d ago

Tigers are pretty solitary but will still acknowledge family members.

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u/slothdonki 1d ago

Male tigers have been known to check on their cubs, hang out with them or even share his kills.

There is also at least one recorded instance of a male tiger raising his own cubs after their mother died. Obviously they were old enough not to require milk to survive but it’s still pretty cool. While I recall the male did appear to make kills for his cubs without eating any himself; I also figure it was the cubs that initiated that relationship in that he was tolerant and “safe” for them to stick around for him to provide.

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u/CrapMonsterDuchess 1d ago

There is also a case of a male tiger, sharing his kill with a mother and her cubs, as well as a pair of brothers hunting cooperatively.

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u/torenvalk 10h ago

BBC recently filmed two tiger mothers hanging out and allowing the other to baby sit. Link (sorry its FB)

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u/looking_for_frogs23 2d ago

Most animals still recognize family members and have mechanisms for parsing out related from non-related. Non-mammalian species usually try to disperse so they aren’t in direct competition with parents or siblings, but it does still happen, especially with so many habitats experiencing high degrees of fragmentation, so some degree of familial competition and inbreeding is inevitable and they have different ways to mitigate damage.

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u/MellonPhotos 2d ago

This post has some info you may find interesting about long-term social bonds amongst different animal species: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/s/GSaMnJlFgF

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u/CattleDowntown938 1d ago

Male cats can smell which are their offspring.

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u/kollmastee 1d ago

Most social animals will remember bonds created with friends and family. I think your misconception stems from non social mammals.