Kids are fine if they’re around people they know, but strangers are another matter. If someone they don’t know comes up and tries to talk to them, they’re more likely to hide behind a parent than get into a conversation.
While this is usually the proper tactic – who knows what that stranger has in mind – it can still be awkward if the person is a friend of the parents. This tiny little elephant looks like it has no idea how to deal with the photographer as it hides next to its much, much larger mom.
Mom, Whatcha Doin'?
Sometimes a mother just has to take a seat and enjoy a snack. The giant panda cub isn't willing to give its mother even a single moment without bothering her.
Pandas eat anywhere between twenty-six and eighty-four pounds of bamboo in a day, and that means lots of munching and crunching. For a little panda cub that wants to make sure it grows up big and strong, that doesn't leave a lot of time to play around with its mother – but it looks like it's finding a way to make her make time for it.
You Need to Clean Behind Your Ears
For some reason, parents always harp on the spots behind the ears! Why there? Well, lots of grime can collect back there, grime being the catch-all for all of the possible substances – and there are a lot.
For us humans, it's as simple as grabbing a washcloth and giving it a rub behind your listeners, but lower primates that don't have washcloths have a little bit more of a difficult time. In this picture, a mom is checking to make sure her little guy or gal has been cleaning properly.
That Karen Look
If there's one thing that young kids understand, it's that the parents are where safety is. That's how it should be, anyway. This orangutan mom, Suma, is not only holding tight to her little one (Unnamed as of yet) but she's also sporting a hairstyle that looks pretty close to the standard Karen look.
Just look at that flow. She's bound to make some non-orangutans jealous with that kind of eye-catching 'do. And such a matronly look on her face, too. It seems like this world-weary mom is already aware of what it's like to care for another.
Mom, Can You Carry Me?
A tiny little anteater sits on the back of its mother – or are anteaters a lot bigger than we thought they were? Wow, some species are almost two meters long from nose to tail, and that's not even counting the famous tongue. Okay, back to the picture. Kids will often get tired if they're out and about.
Sometimes that's because they are tiny and weak and don't actually have all that much energy, sometimes it's just because they're bored. A lot of members of the animal kingdom go this route because it means they know for sure where the little brats are.