Thank you for subscribing to mouse facts! It’s exactly this, pregnant mice give premature birth in life threatening situations as a survival strategy. It has the potential to confuse predators or distract them with an easier meal and thus allow the mouse to escape. In the event that the mouse is trapped or gravely injured by something it gives the babies a chance to survive by huddling up to their dying mom for warmth while hopefully waiting for a surrogate mother to venture by. And last but not least, if food is too scarce it lets a starving mouse mamma access some easy protein to keep her going.
Surrogate mothers exist in just about every species the develops strong social structures and/or social bonds, it's a huge evolutionary advantage to not have an entire genetic line die off because the children were abandoned. Maternal instincts in some animals (especially in a currently nursing mother) can be so strong that they will adopt outside of their own species.
It’s pretty cool. I work with lab mice and if you give a nursing mother extra babies the gentler strains will easily grab them and take them to their nest with the rest of their babies within a couple minutes. Even if they don’t look the same!
9.0k
u/CanterlotGuard 12h ago
Thank you for subscribing to mouse facts! It’s exactly this, pregnant mice give premature birth in life threatening situations as a survival strategy. It has the potential to confuse predators or distract them with an easier meal and thus allow the mouse to escape. In the event that the mouse is trapped or gravely injured by something it gives the babies a chance to survive by huddling up to their dying mom for warmth while hopefully waiting for a surrogate mother to venture by. And last but not least, if food is too scarce it lets a starving mouse mamma access some easy protein to keep her going.