DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 61 



disposed to attack anyone or anything that comes 

 too near their young. This protective instinct is 

 strong in the parents of domesticated animals, es- 

 pecially mothers, altho largely in the way and 

 useless, because there was a time in the past when 

 it was indispensable to the species. 



7. Mother Love. 



Mother love is not a human invention. It has 

 .been inherited. It is older than the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Mother love in man came from the same 

 source as the backbone in man— from pre-human 

 forms. Mother love among men is the same thmg 

 exactly as mother love among birds and quadru- 

 peds. The mother monkey loves her child with 

 almost the same tenderness as the human mother. 

 When a monkey child dies, the mother carries the 

 little corpse around with her for days, refuses to 

 eat, and sits often in silence and grief. Mother 

 birds will risk their very lives for their young. So 

 will mother bears, and lions, and whales, and the 

 females of many other species. 



Now, why is it that this instinct to protect the 

 young has been planted so generally in the fe- 

 males, who are commonly the weaker members of 

 the species? Among vertebrate animals, at least, 

 the males are larger and more powerful than the 

 females, and are physically much better fitted to 

 perform this protective function than the females. 

 Why has not nature given the males this work to 

 do? Has nature made a mistake in planting this 



