We are coming to the time of the year when most wildlife will be having their young. The young will be quite visible and might appear as if they need help. However, the best way to help them is to leave them alone.

Recently, a group of tourists at one of our national parks saw three young bear cubs up a small tree and decided to take close-up pictures. They removed the cubs from the tree and began taking pictures when a ranger stopped them.

These tourists were lucky that the ranger arrived before the mama bear arrived.

Mammals, such as bears, have a tough time raising their young. While in the den, the female black bear usually gives birth to her cubs during late December or early January. She will nurse the cubs for the next three or four months. During this period, the female bear will not eat, drink, defecate or urinate. The young cubs are content to nurse and sleep for the first few weeks.

After four weeks, their eyes open. Eventually, the cubs start to move about, and paw prints are sometimes seen in the mud and snow outside the den. The female will leave the den when the cubs are approximately three months old. If danger threatens, mama bear protects the cubs by sending them up a tree. The cubs have no real enemies in the wild, except for man and the adult male bears, which have been known to kill and eat cubs.

The cubs will stay with their mother until their second summer, at which time, the family unit breaks up.

Now compare the bear to the cottontail rabbit, which is food for many predators. For the species to survive, rabbits depend on the capability of multiplying at an alarming rate. The doe gives birth to the young in a cup-shaped nest that she has scratched out on the ground. The nest is lined with dried grasses and fur pulled from her belly and breast. By pulling out fur, the doe exposes her mammary glands, making it easier for the young to nurse.

The young rabbits are born blind, hairless, and helpless; however, they develop rapidly, with their eyes opening within five days. After about sixteen days (could be as early as ten days), the young are weaned, fully furred and on their own, while the female begins to build a new nest.

In one study, it was found that the typical female bore twenty-five young over the course of a year. Juvenile females, which are born in the early spring, are sexually mature by late summer and will often mate and raise a September litter.

Some animals are perfunctory parents, having mass production of the young that have instant maturity. The female milk snake buries her elongated, leathery eggs, allowing the sun to do the hatching. The young emerge as miniature adults capable of finding food on their own.

The two systems that are used by wildlife are: precocial and altricial. Precocial comes from the Latin word praecox and means to ripen beforehand. In this type of hatching process, the birds spend a long time inside the egg (approximately one month); however, when hatched out, they are fully feathered, their eyes are open and they are able to leave the nest within one hour.

Fearing predators, these precocial birds, are usually ground nesters and cannot afford to have their young in the nest for long. Their chance of survival is greater if they leave the nest right away.

Precocial is an adjective describing an animal that is ready to take care of itself immediately after birth. Examples are ducks, geese, turkeys, and most ungulates, including deer, antelope. Although in the case of deer and other mammals, the young will continue nursing for several months and have the company and protection of their mothers for a year or more. So, “taking care of itself” could be an exaggeration.

The other hatching process is called altricial, which is also Latin and comes from the Latin word altrix, meaning nurse or wet nurse. It is the term used for young birds that hatch in a helpless condition. These young hatch out as soon as possible (usually twelve days).

The chicks are only half formed, with no feathers and closed eyes. Some examples are mice, squirrels, bears, and the American robins. It is estimated that less than one third of the very fragile altricial born birds survive to maturity. Altricial means the opposite and describes an animal born helpless and in need of much care.

During this period, the parents must provide food for the young from dawn to dusk. It was recorded that in one day, a pair of wrens made 1,217 trips to the nest, while carrying food for their young. A young robin can eat up to fourteen feet of earthworms in a day, and with three or four young in the nest, the parents are constantly bringing food to the young.

Our English language has specific terms for young birds that remain in or at the nest and are cared for by the parents. Nidicolous is the specific word, and it comes from two Latin words: nidus, meaning nest and colere, which means inhabit. Most altricial birds fall into this category.

The specific term used for young birds that leave the nest soon after hatching and drying is nidifugous, which comes from two Latin words: nidus, meaning nest and fugere, meaning to flee.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.