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Mammas

Isabella Rossellini returns to SundanceTV and sets her provocative lens on creatures’ rites of passage into motherhood in her latest series Mammas.

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S1, E1

Cuckoo

Good babysitters are hard to find, so Mamma Cuckoos use some slight-of-wing to trick other birds into hatching and raising their young. They slip their eggs into the nests of smaller birds. When the Cuckoo chicks are born they knock those other eggs out of the way and convince their fake Mammas to feed them instead. It sure cuts down on childcare costs!

S1, E2

Dunnock

Raising babies can be expensive! That’s why Dunnock bird Mammas practice polyandry and have more than one male mate. More men means more dads bringing home the bacon. Or in this case, bugs and seeds.

S1, E3

Cichlid FIsh

Cichlid Fish Mammas store their eggs in their mouths, so that’s where Cichlid fathers have to fertilize them. Naughty! Soon after that, lots of Cichlid babies swim out and those Mammas are free to use those mouths for things like eating again.

S1, E4

Hamster

Hamster Mammas have a lot of babies. Up to 10 at a time! Sometimes that is too many mouths for one Mamma to feed, so she eats a couple up so she can give those remaining siblings some sustenance.

S1, E5

Oil Beetle

Oil beetle larvae can trick themselves onto a bee mamma and eat all that she provides for her babies, and the babies too!

S1, E6

Piping Plover

The Piping Plover is an actress! Charadrius melodius pretends to be wounded in order to protect its eggs from predators.

S1, E7

Spider

Being a Mamma requires some sacrifice, especially if you are a Spider, Diaea egrandros. The number one priority for almost all Mammas is to make sure their babies have all the food they need to survive. And for these spiders, that means letting their babies devour them.

S1, E8

Toad

Toad mammas don't carry one big baby in their bellies, but many littles babies on their backs.

S1, E9

Wasp

Wasp Mammas don’t need fancy bottle warmers or breastfeeding pillows. They make sure their babies have all the nourishment they’ll need ahead of time by paralyzing caterpillars and burying them alive with their wasp eggs. That way, the little wasp babies have plenty of fresh meat when they hatch. Yum!

S1, E10

Maternal Instinct

Mothers – all mothers – cannot help being maternal. What is this trait, this characteristic common to all mothers?