Father's Day didn't get more recognition than Mother's Day in Animalia, but it was acknowledged at least. Though Animalians seemed to show a bit more reverence towards mothers than fathers. That was probably a small holdover from their animal instincts. There were many species in which the males left the raising of offspring to the females. Of course, that wasn't true for every animal species. There were some animal fathers who help raise the offspring until they were grown, even if they didn't mate for life with said offspring's mother.
Of course, with Animalians now having family structures based off of humans', fathers were now more involved with rearing their children, regardless of species. And while there weren't any special festivities to honor Father's Day, they were still being celebrated in Animalia.
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Richard Lage was a little grateful to be able to get away from the cubs for a while. They had grown bigger since Clara had given birth to them a year ago. And they were also more in control of their limbs now and were considerably more mobile than human babies. They could be quite a handful so he was taking a bit of time away so he could go to the far. His mountain lion taste buds kept him from being a heavy drinker, but he could down at least a few shots.
Of course, Richard wasn't the only one using Father's Day as a chance to head to the bar. Thomas Wesley was wanting to get away from his puppies for a while. The two were chatting a while before getting into a debate which had the more troublesome babies.
"Bell and Bash are everywhere in the house now," said Thomas, "It's no small task to keep them corralled. They've got the mobility of puppies and the dexterity of humans."
"At least yours can respond to some commands," said Richard, "You have any idea how hard it is to train a kitten? If they're not distracted halfway through the lesson, they're ignoring me altogether.
"Well, at least you don't have to worry about them chewing anything they can put in their teething mouths," said Thomas.
"My kids need to chew too."
"Yes, but Bell and Bash aren't likely to stop even after their teeth grow all the way in. I'm probably going to have to buy a lot of squeaky toys."
Richard pulled out his trump card. "I should remind you that I am a mountain lion, as in a wild cat. You're a domesticated breed of dog," said Richard.
"Fair point," said Thomas, "But at least they're cute though."
"Yeah, much cuter than they would have been as humans," said Richard. Richard didn't have anything against human babies, but he never got really attached to them.
"Until the terrible 2's hit," said Thomas.
Richard shuddered and said, "Don't even say that."
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Meanwhile, Martha's parents had come over to visit. It wasn't just about Father's Day, but about seeing how their daughter was growing with child. Though another motive was that with summer getting hotter, it was becoming more uncomfortable for the two Megatherium and they needed a place to chill until the heatwave broke. The Ice Haus would be a big relief to the Cenozoic Animalians.
Brook was rubbing her daughter's belly. It was a little bigger than she had imagined. But then, a Red Fox didn't take nearly as long to gestate as a human. And since three months have passed, Martha was halfway through. "Do you know how many yet?" asked Brook.
"According to the latest scan, we're expecting triplets," said Robby.
"Just the right number," said Martha, "I wouldn't want to bloat up as big as Clara did."
"I hope you're going to take good care of your kits," said Sidney, fixing Robby with a serious look. Even if the Giant Ground Sloth was a most likely peaceful creature, they could still be fearsome, if only because of their size.
"Well, of course," said Robby.
"Don't mind him," said Martha, "He'll remember what it'll be like to raise babies soon enough."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sidney.
"Nothing," said Martha, "But I did always want a little sister."
"I don't think it's your business to poke into your parents' sex lives," said Sidney.
"Could you please not use that word?" asked Martha.
"What word? SEEEEEeeeeEEEEEEEx?" asked Sidney, stretching out his words in typical sloth fashion, "What's so unappealing about hearing your elderly father talk about SEEEEEeeeeEEEEEEEx? I had SEEEEEeeeeEEEEEEEx."
Martha grimaced and said, "I think I'm gonna puke. No, wait, that's the morning sickness. I am going to puke."
Robby sighed before holding out a bucket. "Please don't miss," he said.
"Yep, he's definitely going to be a good father," said Brook with approval.
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Elsewhere, the Anaconda Triumvirate were trying to figure out how to deal with all their children. It was challenging enough to be three hermaphroditic anacondas, but the fact that they each had sextuplets was a lot to deal with. Considering how many times they've had sex with each other before they learned they were pregnant, it was hard to determine who was the father for many of the hatchlings. Which didn't particularly matter as all three were planning on raising their hatchlings together no matter who actually sired who.
Though there were two of the hatchlings who had clearly inherited the double heads from Iphis and Ianthe. Though neither of them actually bore those hatchilngs, it was obvious they were the father. Ty had borne a two-headed son while Lily had borne a two-headed daughter. As such, they had the higher priority for being named. The male was named Ayden and Mylton. The female was named Nataly and Zaniyah. Determining which head would be getting which name was going to be discussed later.
"It's not going to be easy seeing that each one gets proper attention," said Ty.
"And even with that generous donation from California, I'm not sure if we'll be able to afford them so easily," said Lily.
"We were given a million dollars," said Ianthe pointedly.
"You'd be surprised how fast money goes," said Lily.
"Well, if it's too much, we could put some up for adoption," said Iphis.
"I"d prefer not to," said Ty, "I'm just glad the Piper clan are helping out. I wouldn't know half of what to do without them,' said Ty.
"You would have done well," said Lily soothingly.
"Yes, we're not giving up our children that easily," said Ianthe.
"Far too valuable," agreed Iphis.
"Glad we agree on that," said Ty.
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In the spirit of Father's Day, an interesting new experiment happened with Animalia Aquatica. A pair of seahorses were being uplifted for the project, specifically Pacific Seashorses. While some question whether seahorses have bones, they do have vertebrate for the Animalian virus to start working with. The uplifted pair, now named Triton and Thoosa, were also a source of interest for another reason. They wanted to see if the uplifted seahorses will carry one their species's famous gender roles and have Thoosa lay her eggs in Triton to hold until birth.