fact pr myth is it true if you touch a baby animal in the wild the mom will spell you and will leave her kids?

Question

I think its a myth but my boyfriends mom thinks that it is real which one is right thank you.

Answer 1

It is true that many feral animals will abandon their young because of the scent of man lingering around the nest, den, etc. My studies have shown that larger animals such as tigers and pandas are not so likely do do that...so the higher up the food chain, the less likely it is to happen. Rabbits and even hamsters are food for larger creatures, and the parents care both for their young but also for their own self-survival. Even in medicine, if a choice has to be made between saving a mother or a baby, the choice usually goes to the mother as she has the possibility of having other children and thereby perpetuating the species. Most monkeys do not reject babies if they have been tainted by man, but there seems a period where the mothers are extra alert and cautious. In handling young animals, we normally wear gloves to prevent scent from being attached to the animal (but to prevent bites from various parasites or disease). Environment contamination by human scent is not so important as the babies having the scent directly on their bodies. Domesticated animals may still abandon their young but it is infrequent.

Answer 2

False.
Most seed eating birds (finches, sparrows, etc.) have close to no sense of smell. They can't abandon their young because of your scent because they can't smell you anyway.
Rabbits will not abandon their young either. They only visit the nest about 5 minutes a day anyway, and are in and out real quick. Your scent is not going to deter them from taking care of their babies. I took daily pictures of rabbits in a nest once, mama did not seem to mind. They seemed well cared for and left the nest at about 3 weeks just like normal.

Answer 3

There are many explanations for this theory. First, most baby animals we find have already been abandoned by the mother, which is why they're out in the open for us to find. Any animal will abandon a baby if it is weak or deformed in some way. There may be some animals that will abandon a nest if they smell human scent, because they consider us predators, and they don't want to stay and risk being attacked. Excessive handling may also make the baby smell like someone else's - animals use scent to identify friends and family, and if you play with a baby too much, you might rub off all it's smell. Animals typically ignore or kill babies belonging to other mothers.

Overall, it's probably best to leave baby animals alone- besides risking the mother leaving them, wild animals carry a wide variety of parasites, bacteria, viruses, and deadly diseases- it's best to leave them be.

Answer 4

Depends on the animal. Complete myth in most cases. most birds will not leave their young, foxes, and bears will not. I can tell you for absolute sure- we do telemetry and banding studies on those species and have never had an abandonment- they usually move the babies afterwards if possible, but we have never seen the parents abandon them. It would make absolutely no sense. With all that they invested genetically and in time for those babies, it costs way too much(in a fitness principle) to just let them die because of a strange smell.
If they reek of people or are a flightier animal, they may abandon them. Any species that can reproduced relatively quickly (rabbits, mice etc) have a much higher rate of abandonment because it is less costly to lose the litter.

Answer 5

Not in my experience. If the mother does not trust you she may move them afterwards to a place she feel that you cannot find but I have never had any of my cats kill their own kittens and I have handled them the day they were born. Just don't handle them too much because it is not good for them and it might upset the mama cat.

Answer 6

half true some animals do abandon thier babies mainly birds i learned that from experience i found a birds nest in my back yard then i touched one of them and a few days later i found the baby bird dead but i dont think that its true wit other animals i once had a baby squrril that i thought mom left i took it in my house and later took it out and it left wit its mom i think cuz it was a squirrel

Answer 7

It certainly is NOT TRUE with rabbits. Rabbits actually do not have that sense of smell when it comes to uncommon scents.

As a rabbit raiser, I foster babies off onto other does often and they raise them as their own, not to mention they haven't a care in the world that I touch their newborns constantly.

Answer 8

Yes, for the most part its true. There are always exceptions of course, but there is much evidence to prove it. Its especially common amoung birds, but I've had a stray cat stop taking care of her babies after they were touched by our neighbors.

Answer 9

Half true.
The parent animal does not like the fact you are messing with their young but, they do not "smell" you and abandon them.
The worst the parent animal will do is abandon them thinking you will not go away.
It is a form of self preservation.
In their mind, they do not want to die but, they can always have more babies.

Answer 10

From my experience, myth. I have found rabbits and held them along with baby raccoons and baby squirrels and the mothers never left them nor killed them. Just seemed more diligent to clean my smell off.