Devonshire's East Devon magazine July and August 18

The Old Vet’nary
by Ken Watson
Babies galore!
a friendly, family practice
Nothing is more fascinating
than the way that different
species provide for the welfare
of their babies. It even starts with
the variation in the development
of their placentas, which is a
study of it’s own. You all know
how human babies are cared for.
Now listen to this. Some animals
go to great lengths over a long
period to provide infinite care
and food while others just give
basic food but otherwise just drop
their offspring and leave it with
the virtual attitude of,”You are
on your own mate“, but they are
not so callous as this might seem.
There is always a reason.
Take the comparison between
the Rabbit and the Hare. The
Rabbit has a gestation period of
just 30 days, but then produces
naked young in an underground
burrow where she suckles them
in comfort. The Brown Hare, on
the other hand, gestates for 42
days but then drops young which
are fully developed. They never
go underground but spread out
and each scrapes a hollow in
the ground, called a form, into
which it settles and, remaining
perfectly still, becomes invisible.
The mother visits three times a
day to suckle them but with care
because predators are watching.
The leverets separate so that if one
is discovered, the others have a
chance, and from birth they can
run. The Hare also has a clever
trick to make the most of the
February to October breeding
window. About two weeks
before birthing she can conceive
again. This means that when the
existing tenants of her uterus
move out into the world there is
a developing set of foetuses ready
to take their place. Thus, for a time,
the Hare is permanently pregnant,
but to achieve this the sperm of
the buck have to journey through
and over the growing tenants of
the uterus, a journey which is
akin to the homeward travels of
Odysseus. If you don‘t think that
amazing you must be hard to
please. Moreover the doe does not
come on heat but ovulates after
mating, and the famous boxing
matches of hares can often be
between doe and buck when she
is telling him to get lost. So, you
see, she is in charge of the whole
sex business. That should please
the feminists!
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Yet other species have another
method. Whereas the Rabbit,
Bats, and most mammals nurture
helpless young, and remember
the most extreme of those is the
Marsupial which carries it’s young
in a special pouch on it’s abdomen,
or the big cats which scare the
hell out of any potential predator,
some species just produce young
by Richard Woodward
which within a short time can
join and keep up with the herd
for protection. In this group we
have the Ungulates or those that
evolved even beyond and have
only one toe. In the Ungulates
we have Cattle, Sheep, Deer etc.
whose young are licked clean by
the mother and are soon ready
to join the adults on long shaky
legs. Even so the Deer may leave
it’s young hidden whilst gaining
strength, but remember how agile
the adults are. No youngster could
keep up with that. The second,
single-toed group is also fast and
includes the Horse and it’s wild
variants, Zebras, Wildebeest etc.
Here the young are soon able to
keep up with the herd with the
aid of their long legs.
One would have to be very hardbitten
to fail to be touched by the
way the long-legged, always long
of leg, offspring of these species,
fuelled only by mother’s milk and
a little grass, struggle to find their
place and keep up with the herd.
Finally I must preach. Never,
unless it is obviously injured, pick
up or even touch a seemingly
abandoned Leveret or any feral
young. For if you do you will leave
your scent upon it and it’s mother
may abandon it as she no longer
recognises it as her own. - Ken
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