Fire up our latest collection of funny parenting tweets and you’ll know that moms and dads never get tired. Or, who knows, maybe you even have a little bundle of joy to remind you of that every single day.

Either way, we humans aren’t the only ones who have to nurture our young. Far from it. And there’s a fresh Twitter thread that beautifully illustrates this universal experience.

It all started when Shawna B shared a picture of a fluffy little family. “One of my favorite very specific image genres is cats that look completely unprepared for the realities of parenthood,” she tweeted.

It quickly went viral, receiving over 350K likes and 50K retweets, and many people started responding to it with equally cute photos of animal parents. Continue scrolling to check them out!

#1 Dad Passed Out After A Long Day With The Kids

Image credits: Марина Фомичева

#2 Cosy Cat’s Family

Image credits: ComfortableWash430

The amount of time animals spend with their parents vary tremendously. It’s not very common, but there are a few species who stick around mom for a long time—or even their whole lives.

The orangutan, for example, tends to do everything slowly, including leaving home. According to Helen Morrough-Bernard, a primatologist at the U.K.’s University of Exeter, the great apes give birth only once every 7 to 8 years, and the youngster will sometimes nurse until six years old—about the time a new baby comes along.

#3 The Joys Of Motherhood

Image credits: Valens

#4 Imitation Expert

Image credits: camymilla

Most orangutan moms let the older offspring stay together for up to three years after the infant is born, but some chase the juveniles off after six months.

When the new arrival comes, the older sibling will “go off exploring on their own and may stay out overnight,” Morrough-Bernard told National Geographic.

“I like to think of this as like a teenager going off to university and coming back in the holidays. They are not truly independent but are trying out their independence.”

#5 Momma’s Tail

Image credits: sidshembekar

#6 A Stray Cat Decided To Bring Its Kitten Into My House Today. The Kitten Was Extremely Aggressive But The Mom Was Surprisingly Chill

Image credits: SecretIdentity_

#7 Mommy’s Asleep, Time To Party

Image credits: Aramgutang

The African elephant world is another interesting case, as it revolves around women. The oldest, largest female is typically the leader, and females stay with their natal herd their whole lives.

Males leave their family group between age 9 and 18, and since a wild elephant’s lifespan is about 56, that could mean up to a third of his life is spent at home.

#8 Kids

#9 When You Find Out You’re Pregnant

Image credits: NoctuaMasterRace

#10 Wake Up

Image credits: i-c-e

Like in elephant society, female lions “are the stable social structure of the pride, and it’s the males that come and go, taking over prides,” Ed Spevak, curator of invertebrates at the St. Louis Zoo who has also studied African animals, explained.

Male lions always disperse for other groups in this fission-fusion society, and about one-third of females will go off to other prides.

#11 Mama Cat Is The Best Cat Bed Ever

Image credits: SWIMxGOD

#12 Baby Sheep Sleeping On Its Mother

Image credits: DD1234567

#13 Send Help

Image credits: Марина Фомичева

#14 The Joy Of Motherhood

Image credits: aerrorfree

While the animal kingdom is full of wonderful moms who care for their offspring, often putting their children above themselves, some take a very different approach.

Most lizards, for instance, “deposit their eggs, cover them, immediately forget they did that and move along,” Nassima Bouzid, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington, said.

#15 Fatherhood

Image credits: iam_thehulk

#16 Being A Mother, No Matter How Tired You Are, Kids Are Always Important To You

#17 Pretending To Be His Mother

#18 Mom And Baby. Pure Happiness

Image credits: danielbenitez1990

Because they have a cloaca, an opening for their reproductive, digestive, and urinary systems, lizards might even think the eggs are “an uncomfortable and weird poop,” and never think about it again.

Bouzid said the lack of parental care in most lizards may simply be part of a strategy to have as many offspring as possible in hopes that at least some will survive.

#19 Caught This At My Parents’ House. Just Cruizin’ With Mama

Image credits: cheesybstrd

#20 Send Help

Image credits: CYBERSson

#21 Daddy’s Life Routine

Image credits: lorettabritishcat

#22 Have Kids They Said

Image credits:

But one lizard species goes even further—not only do their young never see the parents, they never see any adults of their species at all.

At least one population of The Labord’s chameleon of southwest Madagascar’s dry forests “will lay all of their eggs before winter. The eggs will then hatch just before the summer rains,” Bouzid said.

The eggs spend eight to nine months developing and in the meantime, the adults will have aged and died.

#23 The Look On The Mamma Cat

Image credits:

#24 Sleep

Image credits: Adam_Lewis243

#25 The Apple Doesn’t Fall Too Far From The Tree

Image credits: HMfly

Interestingly, many insects actually receive parental care. But not moths and butterflies. They lay their eggs on host plants and leave their offspring to whatever the world throws at them.

“Some lay their eggs near ant nests and the ants take care of the caterpillars. It’s like Moses in miniature,” Katy Prudic, an entomologist at the University of Arizona, said.

#26 Hiding From The Bitey Puppies

Image credits: Tahiticguy

#27 Mama Maybel With Her 3-Week-Old Kid, Scout, At Goats Of Anarchy Sanctuary. Maybel Had 4 Kids At The Same Time So She’s A Busy Mama

Image credits: b12ftw

#28 Motherhood

Image credits: commonvanilla

#29 The Face Of Parenthood

Image credits: hugALLthecats

They can be really cunning. Let’s also look at the caterpillar of the large blue butterfly.

It secretes a sweet substance attractive to a particular species of red ant and makes itself smell like an ant larvae so the ant takes it back to its nest with its own brood, which the caterpillar then eats.

#30 “Of All The Places He Could Sleep On, It Just Had To Be My Head”

Image credits: NutritionStrength

#31 Oh God, Make It Stop

Image credits: Ticklebiscuit

#32 “I’ve Had Puppies And This Is My Life Now?”

Image credits: lextexiana

#33 Back To Front – Dad, Mom, Brother, Brother, And Sister. A Family Snuggle

Image credits: MrFergusonWntBowling

Some young have a natural defense to protect themselves from predators via toxic chemicals from their host plant—and others have pitch-perfect camouflage.

The common lytrosis of eastern North America, for example, can perfectly disguise itself as a twig. And if it happens to fall off its background branch, it can use its silk to attach a “zip line” and pull back up.

They might not have someone to give them a hug like the boys and girls in these pictures, but at least they got an evolutionary “inheritance” from their parents to survive!