We Desire Worms!
Ask literally anybody why a child might be crying, and we bet that the top answer is going to be “the child is hungry.” It might drop to somewhere in the top three, but this one is so universal that nobody will forget it. This is true of the animal kingdom, too, as we see here with a pair of young swallows.
It looks like they could be singing backup to “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye, but what they actually want to do is eat, Mom, come on. Cough up some of those good bugs!
But I Want to Go That Way!
Meerkats can't shrug. But we have a feeling that if those two parents could, they would. They would also add an eye-roll. Human kids are curious creatures and as soon they learn how to walk, they wander into places they shouldn't.
This meerkat baby seems to have done the same. Just look at the sad look in his eyes. That's exactly the look a child would have after his parents told him he couldn't stick his finger in the socket. Good thing his parents aren't impressed by this near-tantrum.
Throwing a Tantrum in Public
Even if you don't have kids of your own, you've encountered this problem – a child squalling for no reason whatsoever, or a toddler kicking its feet because Mom won't buy the right kind of sugary cereal.
This tiger cub looks like it's flexing its growing strength to try and force its mom to do something it wants. Still, it's about to learn the same thing that all kids learn as they start to grow – their parents are way, way stronger than they are, and we bet this tiger mom will win a hundred times out of a hundred.
Time to Give the Kid Some Chores
Despite the overwhelming number of toys or games they might own, it's common for kids to experience a heavy dose of boredom during the unexciting hours of the day. “Mom, I'm bored” is such a common refrain in some homes that the parents will bristle whenever they hear it.
This sea lion mom looks like she's one syllable away from dolling out a heavy list of chores to her little cub. Yes, if you didn't know, a child sea lion is called a cub. An infant is called a calf, which is rather unlike a land lion.
Snuggle Time!
Everybody loves a cute baby. It makes perfect sense – natural selection wants us to want the species to continue, so we tend to like infant varieties of our own species. This is true for all primates, not just humans, and we think this picture of a pair of proud macaque parents snuggling their newborn daughter is a perfect example.
Mom and Dad seem all agog over their little bundle of joy. Hard to argue – she's a cutie. Skin-to-skin (or in this case fur-to-fur) contact is a big part of growing a relationship between parents and children, and these monkeys are on their way.