Science There’s a Reason Moms Are So Overworked We weren’t meant to parent like this. The animal kingdom proves it. Jorge Guerrero/AFP via Getty Images Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Orangutans are a little bit like tradwives. An orangutan mom doesn’t have a partner to make dinner or put on a dress for—orangutans live mostly alone—but she does handle all the homemaking and childcare herself. Her kids may breastfeed until the age of 8. But unlike the tradwife with her gaggle of youngsters underfoot, the orangutan mother sustains this intense caretaking by spacing her kids seven or so years apart. When it comes to other great apes, the moms also get almost no help in raising their children—from dads, or anyone else—and they space their kids several years apart. Their families look even less like a “traditional” human family: Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas live in promiscuous groups.…