Baby Mamas: Unlikely Animal Friends (Full Episode) | Nat Geo Wild

They say a mother's love is unconditional. Get down, get down. And these interspecies baby mamas are living proof. I've never quite seen a bond like this before. Good morning. Meet the incredible people. And animals who defy instinct and adopt babies in need. A Clydesdale horse ranch in Coldwater, Canada has six horses. One is a Clydesdale foal named Legacy. A lot of people say that Clydesdale are the friendliest breeds. They're pretty level-headed. They're smart. They're a people person. They call them gentle giants. As this six-month-old heads out to the yard, her unusual mom follows right behind. She's a dairy goat named Buttercup. These two are frolicking around now. But a difficult time brought them together. After Legacy's birth six months ago, her biological mother had complications. She was in a lot of pain. So we ended up putting her down. And it left Legacy all alone. Newborn foals need to nurse every 20 minutes. To keep the foal alive, Emily and Matt Welsh had to get creative. They adopted Buttercup, a dairy goat. But would Legacy accept her unlikely mother? We led her to Buttercup and kind of just pushed her head in a certain direction to try and get to the udder. And it worked, and she took off to the races. Good girl, Buttercup. Buttercup nursed the foal. Good girl. And the duo forged a close friendship. I've never quite seen a bond like this before, ever, between any sort of animal. I just was surprised how fast Buttercup took the motherly role. Half a year later, this pair shares everything. They eat out of the same container. They eat the same hay. They drink out of the same water dish. And they're in the same field together. So they're together 24-7. Though still a youngster, Legacy's grown to 44 inches. She now towers over her surrogate mom. Clydesdales are one of the tallest breed of horses, and Clydesdale foals grow rapidly. By the age of 2, they've grown into about 90% of their adult size, gaining up to 3 pounds per day. Fully grown, Legacy may be up to 6 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh 2,000 pounds. Since Clydesdales grow so large, Buttercup is usually kept apart from the other horses on the ranch. But this giant is mindful of her mini-mom. Legacy is very careful with Buttercup. There's a crazy difference in size between the two of them, but she doesn't push her over or lay on her or anything like that. She's very aware of where Buttercup is. Likewise, Buttercup always keeps a watchful eye on her adopted daughter. If Legacy wanders away in the field, Buttercup will be right behind. Goats are natural guardians, especially mothers. They'll fight to protect their young. And it looks like Buttercup is taking her role very seriously. Come on, guys. As Legacy's growing up, she's entering the horse equivalent of her teen years. Legacy's kind of that rebel child now. She's getting a little cocky and adventurous, kind of on her own. Usually the mother is the boss and the foal does what they're told, but in this case, Legacy's bigger, so I guess she's kind of the boss. Despite the reversed roles and attitude, Buttercup still provides maternal care for the foal. When Legacy wants an additional snack, Buttercup climbs up her custom-built ramp and nurses her. Legacy's on full food now. She doesn't need the milk to survive anymore. Goat's milk and horse's milk is very similar. Both are rich in nutrients and fat. So a goat can be a viable foster mother for a horse. At six months old, Legacy's still suckling at Buttercup, but it's probably mostly for comfort. If Buttercup were a horse, this mother-child duo would be weaned off and separated. If you had a mare and a foal at six months, you want to separate them so the mare can dry up and the foal can start on regular feed. But we're not going to separate them. We don't want to cause any of them any anxiety. Matt and Emily knew that Legacy needed a role model of her own kind, so they adopted a four-month-old Clydesdale named Rock. Legacy needed another horse just to learn to be a horse. Rock definitely teaches her just social aspects of being a horse. As soon as Rock came, he taught her itching each other's backs. He was really good with her. Stuff that Buttercup couldn't do. While Legacy and her new playmate run around, Buttercup defends her role. It is a little bit of a long triangle, yeah. When Rock starts playing, Buttercup just kind of steps in like a mother and protects Legacy. Like, just as if to say, you know, don't hurt her. Like a mother sending her kid off to school, Buttercup will eventually have to let go of Legacy. She can have babies next spring, and then she can kind of concentrate on her babies as opposed to Legacy, and Legacy can start thinking about being a horse. But this pair will always share a special bond. Buttercup and Legacy will definitely be friends forever. In the golden hills of Santa Clarita, California, Christy Ferguson and her son Ethan Wolf live on a ranch with a flock of exotic birds. You want to go feed them? One of them is Ethan's surrogate baby. Good morning, peepers. A two-year-old emu named Peepers. The highlight of Ethan's morning is when he runs down and gets to visit Peepers. He loves visiting her. Peepers is my baby emu. I like Peepers this much. Ethan and Peepers were instant best friends. Ethan really lights up when he sees Peepers. He calls her Peepers and baby emu. She'll always be a baby emu to him, no matter how big she gets. Ethan met Peepers after the baby emu hatched on the family's farm. In the emu world, the male parent raises emu offspring for the first 18 months. But Peepers' dad was inexperienced and deserted his brood. Peepers was this little. Christy brought Peepers inside to keep her alive. Ethan, who was then two years old, took charge as the bird's unlikely caretaker. Ethan took on that role very seriously. He always wanted to be the one to feed her. He always wanted to be the one to make sure she had a blanket. So she imprinted to him. Peepers bonded with Ethan out of instinct. Young animals attach to another animal or a person within the first weeks of their lives. The emu grew strong, and she became Ethan's playmate. They would spend their days playing together. If he was driving his tricycle, they would sit down and have snacks together. Ethan and Peepers would come down and help us feed all the animals. Peepers was always following him. We wanted to keep her as active as possible, and Ethan was great with helping with that. As an only child who had often played by himself, Ethan embraced Peepers' company. The emu was the first close friend Ethan spent constant time with. It made the relationship so much more special, and the bond, it made it so much stronger. He really looked out for her, and they looked out for each other. They were both very young, so it was two toddlers together. Sometimes they would get a little feisty with each other, but it was so wonderful to watch them work through that and learning about each other. Spending time with Peepers also taught Ethan important life lessons. I think the baby emu taught him a lot of responsibility. Peepers gave him a lot of confidence, and the fact that he could care for her gave him a lot of skill and compassion for smaller creatures. My favorite thing about Ethan and Peepers' relationship was the fact that my two-year-old son showed compassion. It's not often you get to see toddlers consider other living creatures above themselves. But Ethan and Peepers' special relationship was about to change forever. Two-year-old Ethan Wolf helped raise Peepers the emu when she imprinted on him. But when Peepers was three months old, she outgrew her young caretaker. When she was getting bigger and stronger, she would peck him, and it would hurt him. And there came a point where she was eye-level with my son. I became very concerned. I had to step in as a mom and put some limits on their relationship. It was difficult at first not having her with us the whole time. Emus are the second largest bird in the world after ostriches. They can grow to be over six feet tall. And they're attracted to shiny objects, so standing face-to-face with them can be dangerous. These playmates needed their own space. When we had to separate Ethan and Peepers, it was extremely hard. Ethan would always ask me to open the cage and let her out. The one who took it the hardest was Peepers. That was the person she always wanted to be with. While Peepers joined the other emus, Ethan remained her best friend. We definitely wanted her to acclimate to the herd and to have the life of an emu. She always wanted companionship, and her first choice was always Ethan. We made sure Ethan saw her several times during the day to give her some comfort. Today, Peepers lives with her own kind across the street from Ethan. Good morning, Peepers. The visits are extremely important to Ethan. And it's so important for him to see that the hard work that he did is paying off. That he did a great job with caring for her, and now she can have that great life. It means the world to Ethan. It lights up his day. These unusual pals still find a way to play together. Say, come on, Peepers. Let's go. Come on, Peepers. Let's go. I like racing Peepers because I like her running with me. She's a little bit slower than me. Ethan and Peepers love to race. They love running up and down the fence line. They love having fun.