NATURE Born Wild: The First Days of Life The basic parental instincts of animals in the wild resonate with our need to nurture and protect our children. This program traces the unique bonds between parent and newborn in ways that may reflect our own. Thursday, November 5th at 8:00 p.m. on PBS-H

The most important moment of an animal’s life is its birth. The newborn emerges from dark safety to find anxious parents clucking or mewing. The first hours are some of the most dangerous. This film follows the birth and first days of several species, from marmoset to moose to elephant and gorilla. It is a film of miniature drama and huge spectacle, and comes to some surprising conclusions about human beings.

Orangutan mother and baby

Mothering involves instinct, but also experience and choices, some of which can be devastatingly hard. As viewers observe animals interacting with their young and wrestling with the feelings and dilemmas that come with raising a baby, they see that parental instincts, for creatures great and small, may mirror their own experiences.