Originally Posted by jaiganes
Motherhood is one emotion that seems to be shared by almost all vertebrates. Care for young ones is the first emotion in this universe. All other feelings came much later. In the animal kingdom too there are surrogate mothers, although something like IVF and stuff is not there. In a pack of wild dogs there is always an alpha male and female. Alpha female is the "Godmother" for the entire pack. Whichever female gives birth to young ones, alpha female barges in and carries the pups to her den/burrow and starts feeding them her milk. The disconnection of bonds between natural mother and her pups is immediate. The natural mother is in tremendous mental (?) and physical pain and tries unsuccessfully to snatch her pups back so many times. The tussle between the natural mother and the alpha female goes on for months. I saw this on the discovery channel and was amazed by the whole gamut of feelings the natural mother in a pack of wild dogs displayed. The pain as Pavalamani madam has put it rightly is always for the surrogate mother. But looking at the other side of the coin at what scorpio says also makes sense in a way. We humans have from time imemorial have made it a habit to inculcate certain altruistic tendencies, like some among us have sworn to remain celibates and serve society like the monks and nuns of missionaries while some among us have attached ourselves with a cause and sacrificed many things for that all while going against the natural order. Although the concept of human surrogate mother is altruistic in its foundation, the fact that it has degenerated into "womb for hire" is a cause for concern. Compared to that the story of a sister acting as a surrogate for her sibling's off spring is in line with natural tendencies as well as the altruistic tint among humans.
