In mammals, newborn puppies are usually very delicate and their survival depends heavily on parental care. Parental care is primarily provided by the female mammal, who was found to exhibit a series of behaviors before and after giving birth, including searching for a suitable birthing site, constructing a birth chamber, giving birth, grooming, lactation, and nursing. These actions are referred to as maternal behaviors and are critical for the survival and development of newborns in both domesticated and wild animals. Previous studies by us and others have shown that maternal behavior is influenced by genetic and management factors. In addition, with the rapid development of industrialization and electrification in recent decades and changes in human lifestyles, the presence of various new types of pollutants in the environment poses new challenges for the elicitation and maintenance of normal maternal behavior. When disturbed by these undesirable factors, female animals often show abnormal maternal behavior such as not making nests, refusing to lactate, being reluctant to lick the cubs, unable to retrieve the cubs timely, attacking and cannibalizing newborns. Furthermore, while maternal behavior is an important criterion for assessing individuals, due to the low heritability of maternal behavioral traits, it is challenging to make an accurate scientific evaluation solely from a genetic perspective. Instead, when conducting maternal behavior assessment, the overall influence of management, environment, and other factors on maternal behavior should be analyzed in combination with behavioral epigenetics. Therefore, this paper systematically reviews the effects of genetics, nutrition level, environment status, daily management, and other factors such as disease on mammalian maternal behavior, and highlights endocrine disruptors such as plasticizers, heavy metals, and other residues in the environment, as well as electromagnetic and light pollution as new triggers of abnormal maternal behavior. What's more, the article also presents a new prospect on how to improve and breed excellent maternal behavioral traits in animal production and wildlife conservation based on genetics and integrated optimization of nutrition, environment, and management measures. The paper can provide a reference for the next in-depth investigation of the factors influencing and regulating mechanisms of mammalian maternal behavior, and provide a basis for the prevention and improvement of abnormal maternal behavior as well as the enhancement of maternal care of animals. At the same time, it can also provide a certain reference for the exploration of ecological and healthy breeding, and the improvement of the welfare of mothers and newborns.