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Animal Mothers and Babies stamp set celebrates two wildly devoted caregivers

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Published
04/25/2023 by

Canada Post today issued a new Animal Mothers and Babies stamp set that highlights two special caregivers of the wild – the sea otter and the red-necked grebe. Native to Canada, both species are known for their incredible devotion to their young, allowing their babies to float on them during the first stage of their lives.

Issued ahead of Mother's Day and during the week of Earth Day, the stamps celebrate the bond between animal mothers and their young while also encouraging positive action on protecting Canada's wildlife.

Sea otters

Mature female sea otters give birth to a single pup every year for life. Dedicated to their pups for the first six months of their lives, mothers – who are the sole caregivers – float on their backs to feed, groom and cradle their babies. During this time, the pups also learn to forage and swim.

The sea otter was once hunted for its luxurious fur and was eventually extirpated from British Columbia, but the species has made a gradual comeback since it was reintroduced. It continues to face many threats, including oil spills and fishing gear entanglement, and is currently listed as being of special concern in Canada.

Red-necked grebes                                                                              

Monogamous pairs of red-necked grebes share the parenting duties. The water birds take turns incubating their eggs and carrying their chicks, which climb onto their parents' backs immediately after hatching. The parents continue to transport their chicks on their backs until their offspring are between 10 and 17 days old. At that point, they're able to swim – though they're not completely independent until seven to nine weeks when they begin to fly.

Found across most of Canada, the red-necked grebes winter off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Like sea otters, they face threats such as oil spills, as well as loss of their freshwater nesting habitat from other human disturbances.

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