Unlike domestic animals that benefit from human care and supervision, wild animals feed and reproduce in nature without any human involvement or awareness. Their survival is a wondrous process guided entirely by God [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. When the time comes to give birth, the wild animal instinctively crouches on her knees [מצודת ציון]. This specific posture is not accidental; it serves to protect the newborn. For instance, ibexes crouch during labor to ensure their young do not fall from the steep mountain cliffs where they live [מלבי״ם].
As the young emerge into the world, the primary approach among commentators is that the womb safely splits and opens to allow their passage [רש״י, מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. However, other perspectives describe this stage as a process of breaking and crushing [רלב״ג]. In this view, the young break forth carefully so they remain secure and do not slip and fall [אבן עזרא]. Another approach highlights the severe danger of this moment, noting that if the delivery is delayed even slightly beyond its precise time, the offspring risk being cut and crushed within the narrow birth canal [אלשיך].
The birthing process brings intense labor pains and agony for the mother [רש״י, מצודת ציון, רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Yet, immediately after the newborn arrives, the mother is freed from her immense suffering [רש״י, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This swift release happens at the exact moment God ordains, allowing the newborns to stand and walk away independently, requiring no assistance from a midwife [רש״י, מצודת דוד]. The pain leaves through the mother's limbs, and she naturally heals [אבן עזרא].
The sudden release of this pain involves a delicate balance of life and death. If the labor contractions were to stop completely before the birth ended, the mother would lose the necessary strength to push and would die. A great miracle is evident in how God directs the exact timing of the delivery. The animal draws vital strength from the pain itself, and only when the birth is successfully completed is she released from her suffering without any fatal delay [אלשיך].