If we consider the interaction of animals with their cubs in the modern perception, then we can safely imagine this in the form of a commercial transaction: some business partners (mother and father) offer their services (upbringing and care) to other businessmen (their cubs). Cubs, in turn, guarantee them successful survival and new offspring in the future.
A bargain for life
In order for all participants in such a "deal" to achieve productive results in the future, often the mother and father have to take drastic measures that seem senseless or cruel to the person. For example, if the brood lacks food, then the female needs, first of all, to feed the strongest cubs. The fate of outsiders no longer worries her, since they are a priori doomed to death.
When in one brood there is not one, but several cubs at once, then their sphere of communication expands somewhat, since relationships appear between sisters and brothers. For example, immature and untrained cubs have to fight for food that an adult female still brings them, for a happy place to be with her in inclement weather, etc. After a while, it’s time to teach your offspring to hunt.
How do animals teach their young to hunt?
Felines, of course, show some of the most striking examples of learning to hunt. For example, teaching their young hunting skills, females provide them with live "samples" of prey - caught gazelles, antelopes, birds, warthogs, wild boars, etc. It turns out something like a "visual aid".
The expression "play like a cat with a mouse" comes from a hunting nuance of domestic cats. Before eating a captured mouse, the cat loves to play with it. Zoologists are sure that this is a kind of training to consolidate skills.
The female cheetah does not kill the prey, but drags the half-dead animal to her children for the purpose of training them. She lets go of the half-strangled prey, and they, in turn, try to hunt for it on their own. If the prey fools the kittens and runs away, then the female catches up with her, and the lesson begins anew.
A useful incentive to learn to hunt
It is curious that often animal parents resort to radical methods of teaching the hunting skills of their cubs. For example, a female of the same cheetah brings fast prey to her kittens, and then releases her into the wild. If the kittens catch up with her, they feast on a sweet soul, if not, they are left without lunch. As they say, hunger is the best mentor
Female bears on the banks of rivers show their cubs how to hook a huge fish in the water with one blow of their paws. Sometimes bears stimulate their children to hunt by eating their own prey.
This is how the hunting skills of the younger generation of most animals are improved. By the way, the approximate age of many representatives of the fauna, in which their parents take them on a real hunt, is about 4 months old. However, the cubs will not be able to find their own food for a long time, they will be helped by their parents.
