It is often believed that Cubone are the children of female Marowak and that female Marowak do not survive childbirth. This is with few exceptions false; Marowak are usually infertile and most Cubone are the children of Kangaskhan who die in this manner.
It goes without saying that this has a traumatic effect on the newborn pokemon; Kangaskhan are a pokemon with stronger family bonds than even humans, and are poorly equipped to be raised by any others or survive alone. Absent a pouch to grow in, Kangaskhan joeys will take their mothers' skulls to shield their head, another bone from their corpses to protect themselves from predators, and the skulls will fuse with them as the head hardens until it can no longer be removed. The ghost of a dead Kangaskhan mother remains bonded to the skull it had in life, watching over their Cubone children as they grow: if seen by one spiritually attuned it takes the shape of a Marowak.
Tragically, no Cubone can hear it or sense its warmth. They are a species of pokemon who are forever crying inside. Most seek a mother's love in the shadows of the moon and stars or by watching other families from afar. Some become so overwhelmed by desperation and grief that they kill the children of other species of pokemon (or even people) dress themselves in their skins, and present themselves to the horrified mothers as their new children: the mothers are never fooled. Most trainers who possess Cubone blame them for their parent's death and abandon them into the wild. This is perhaps the saddest of all the sorrows surrounding Cubone, because the closest thing to a happy, well-adjusted Cubone is one reared with a trainer's love.
