History Main / Imprinting

* Occurs in a few ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' movies, notably those involving the gang getting a fantastic pet.
** There's a manga story, "Typhoon Fuuko", where Nobita asks for a futuristic pet from Doraemon. Doraemon complies by giving Nobita a 23rd-Century egg which somehow hatches into a baby tornado with a single eye (!!!), who becomes attached to Nobita. Inevitably, Nobita then decides to keep the tornado as a pet, naming it "Fuuko". This short was later recycled into a full-length film, ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheWindmasters'', though Fuuko's origins differs in both versions.
** The very first film, ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasDinosaur'', has Nobita reviving a fossilized egg via the Time Cloth, which hatches into a baby ''futubasaurus'' which Nobita affectionately names Pisuke. Owing to Nobita being the first person the newly-hatched Pisuke sees, it quickly registers Nobita as a parent.
** In ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheBirthOfJapan'' (all versions), Nobita creates three fantastic pets using Doraemon's Life Creation Set, injecting DNA into artificial eggs which then hatches into a {{pegasus}}, a [[OurGryphonsAreDifferent gryphon]] and an [[OurDragonsAreDifferent oriental dragon]]. As Nobita is present when all three eggs hatches, the three baby animals quickly registers Nobita as their parent.
** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheWingedBraves'' have a newly-hatched Birdpian infant imprinting on Suneo and becoming attached to him, spending much of his screentime after hatching by sitting on Suneo's scalp, HeadPet-style. Suneo eventually becomes attached to the chick, and even lets out OcularGushers when the gang have to say goodbye to Birdopia and it's citizens at the end.
** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasNewDinosaur'', a remake of the very first movie, have Nobita once again reviving a fossilized egg into present-day Tokyo. This time, the egg contains a pair of dinosaur ''twins'', belonging to an unidentified feathered species, both who becomes attached to Nobita after imprintment post-hatching.
* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. Implied in the way TheHandler is always introduced to their cyborg, with the girl waking up in bed, their memories wiped, to find the handler there. As 'conditioning' involves a [[MoreThanMindControl combination of drugs and psychology]], it would make sense to have this be one of them.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'': The antropromorphic animals inherit traits from non-anthropromorphic equivalents, including imprinting used by birds.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}}'': A Mechelly forms what is called a Link Bond with the first individual they interact with, which means they keep their Link safe and always acts on their best interest.

* In the episode "That Darn Gator" of the ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSamAndMaxFreelancePolice'', Max fishes a baby SewerGator out of a toilet and it imprints on him.
* Happens to Angelica in the episode "Dude, Where's My Horse?" of ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' when she accidentally hatches a baby ostrich at a ranch. She is dismissive of it at first (naming it "Reject"), but soon grows fond of it. She is heartbroken when she has to leave the ostrich at the ranch since she obviously can't take it home with her.

** In "Smitten with Kittens", some kittens believe Rita to be their mother. Justified in that Rita is also a cat.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' episode "Mama Bird", Tilly finds a lost nest with unhatched eggs in it, and Bill warns she and Cricket that the birds will think the first thing they see when they hatch is their mother. Tilly spends time carrying the nest around hoping the birds will see her as their mama; when the birds finally hatch, they imprint on Cricket instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/BountyHamster''. A nest of alien eggs break open, hatching several small xenomorphs that look like the ones in ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''. Marion cringes in fear as they advance towards him and shoot out NestedMouths... turns out he's got nothing to worry about as they all think he's their mother.

* In the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} "Don's Fountain of Youth", two alligator eggs hatch near Donald Duck and think he's their mother. The real mother gator takes them back but they will not go near her until she starts quacking.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Sector V plans to throw hundreds of eggs at the Delightful Children From Down the Lane, until the next day all the eggs hatch into hundreds of chicks that assume Numbuh 1 is their mommy.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Curious George}}'', George sits on a duck's nest and the first baby that hatches thinks he is its mother.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep'': In "Fossil", a baby dinosaur hatches out of its egg and immediately imprints on Ant as the only moving thing in sight (and because his wetsuit reeks of fish food). ItMakesSenseIncontext.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantastic Four Worlds Greatest Heroes}}'', the Mole Man attempts to be the first thing Giganto's babies see, so they will obey his every command. Invisible Woman renders him invisible just as they hatch.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Problem with Popplers", a baby alien imprints on the Planet Express crew, calling Leela "Mama" and the professor "Grandpa".

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', this is why Jeff the GiantSpider believes the arachnophobic Billy to be his father. Billy discovered his egg and raised it, only to be unpleasantly surprised when the egg hatches into Jeff, who imprints on him immediately.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "Mall of Duty", Lana sits on three ducklings and when they hatch, they follow her home.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic}}'':
** The show did this, with Twilight Sparkle hatching Spike. Their bond seems to be more like brother-sister/assistant-boss, as opposed to mother-son.
** Peewee the Phoenix also imprinted on Spike upon hatching in the episode "Dragon Quest". As of "Just for Sidekicks", Peewee has been returned to the wild.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PbAndJOtter'', this is the subject of "Mama Peanut." When Peanut agrees to look after a group of turtle eggs while their mother is off at the store, one of them almost immediately hatches and declares Peanut his mommy, embarrassing him when he starts showing up while Peanut is playing with his friends.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' episode "Jeepers! It's the Creeper", a newly hatched chick imprints on Scooby. Scooby's attempts to correct the hatchling cause it to start barking as it follows Scooby and Shaggy around. Eventually, Scooby returns the chick back to its real mother, but then a bunch of other eggs hatch and the chicks inside of those eggs end up imprinting on Scooby, making him "a mother hen all over again."

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Super Mario World|1991}}'' cartoon episode "Mama Luigi" played with this, in which Luigi fulfilled the parent figure for a baby Yoshi.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tom and Jerry}}'' cartoons, it is very common for a duckling or other bird to imprint on Tom or Jerry, who will then invariably try to get rid of it. One example is "WesternAnimation/HatchUpYourTroubles", where a woodpecker egg rolls into Jerry's home and hatches there. Jerry does eventually convince the chick that he is not its mother.
* In the premiere episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{TOTS}}'' (''Tiny Ones Transport Service''), the very first animal that Pip and Freddy deliver, a baby kitten named Kiki, imprints on them. She tags along with them back to headquarters and "undelivers" herself.

* ''Film/{{Pokemon}}'':