Mother's Day: Fierce Animal Moms

Just like humans, many animal babies depend on their mothers for food, shelter, guidance, care and comfort. For many of us, our moms are the fiercest and strongest figure in our lives, and animal moms are no different.

On this Mother’s Day, we celebrate moms around the world — furry and otherwise — for all they do for the children they love.

One new advertisement has hit this concept right on the head by likening moms to wild animals fiercely protecting their kids from harm. The ad, for Lysol, depicts a day in the life of children and their mothers, but the mothers are portrayed as a bear, vulture, elephant and baboon.

“Traditionally, Lysol has been much more about 'germ kill,' but we felt there was a bigger emotional truth to the brand,” said Thomas Murphy, Co-COO of McCann New York, the agency that created the ad. “The instinct to protect the ones you love is universal, and Lysol is designed to help people do that."

The new commercial is part of a bigger campaign that Lysol calls “What It Takes to Protect,” which will honor moms and dads and their strength in protecting their families from harm.

In choosing the animals for this advertisement, Murphy said he learned a lot about how fierce and protective animal moms truly are. He realized there were many incredible facts about the many ways moms protect their young in the wild.

"Mother alligators carry their young in their mouths. Mother orangutans are in constant contact with their babies for the first six months of their lives,” Murphy said. “There are mother octopuses that blow bubbles for their young for months at a time to provide oxygen.”

After uncovering so much unknown information, the advertising agency decided to bring an interactive installation to New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Park on Mother’s Day weekend.

The installation is called “Protect Like a Mother: An Exhibit Presented by Lysol” and celebrates all mothers as the fiercest protectors in the animal kingdom, with exhibits featuring both animal and human moms.

“Human moms have been known to lift cars, and walk into tornadoes for their kids,” Murphy said. “It occurred to us that it would be a great basis for a kids' science exhibit."