Category Zoology

The Largest Mammals

A humpback whale swims near the top of the water. From time to time, it comes up for fresh air, filling its lungs. Then the whale dives down again. A few minutes later, it surfaces once more, and whoosh! the whale blows used air through the blowhole on top of its head. It breathes in again and dives.

Whales live in the water and look like fish, but they are really mammals. They are warm-blooded and feed their babies with mother’s milk. They don’t have gills like fish – they have lungs. That’s why they must come to the surface for air.

Big whales eat big things, right? Well, not all whales do. The throats of many whales are too small to swallow anything bigger than an orange! And many whales have no teeth. Baleen whales, such as right whales, gray whales, and rorquals, strain food from the water through hundreds of thin plates in their mouths. These whales eat plankton, which is made up of tiny plants and animals.

Toothed whales include sperm whales, belugas, and narwhals; dolphins and porpoises; and killer whales. These whales are meat eaters. Favorite meals include squid, crabs, lobsters, sharks, cod, and skates.

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Mammals in the Sea

Most kinds of mammals live on land. But seals, whales, and a few other mammals live in the sea. They can stay underwater for a long time, but these mammals breathe air through their lungs. They rise above the water to breathe.

Whales look so much like fish that many people think they are fish. But they are mammals. They have hair, they are warm-blooded, and their babies drink mother’s milk. Dolphins and porpoises are small whales.

Seals, sea lions, and walruses are mammals that spend much of their time in the water and some time on land. When they come onto land, they waddle about on their fins.

Another group of sea mammals includes dugongs and manatees, which are sometimes called sea cows. These animals look a bit like walruses without tusks. Instead of hind flippers, each of these animals has a wide, flattened tail.

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Flying Mammals

Here they come! And seeing those black shapes flutter against the darkening sky could give you goose-bumps.

Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Their two leathery wings are supported by arm bones and spread-out finger bones. When bats are resting, their wings fold up like umbrellas.

Most bats live in caves, usually in large groups called colonies. But sometimes they live in barns, trees, or attics, where they hang upside down by their toes!

Bats are nocturnal animals. They sleep during the day and come out to eat at night. Some people think bats are blind, but they really have good eyesight. They have to find their food in the dark. They do this by squeaking as they fly. The squeaks bounce off objects, and the bats hear the echoes.

Most bats eat moths and other insects. Some bats eat only fruit. The famous vampire bat of South America drinks blood. It bites the skin of a sleeping animal with its teeth and then laps up the blood.

Picture Credit : Google

Mammal Homes

The winter wind howls. Snow falls in thick flakes. Rain soaks the ground. Hungry animals prowl. Some mammals don’t need a house of any kind. Whales don’t. Neither do many mammals with hoofs, such as elk and moose.

Some mammals look for shelter only at night or when they are giving birth. Most monkeys, for example, sleep in trees. The elephant looks for a hidden spot in which to have her baby.

But some mammals make houses to keep out the sun, wind, snow – or other animals. A beaver’s house of branches and twigs is often built in a pond. The top of the house freezes in winter, keeping out the cold and the other animals. But the bottom of the house doesn’t freeze. The beaver can go in and out to get the food it has stored there. Every animal’s house is just right for the animal that lives in it.

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Babies in Pouches

A newborn kangaroo is smaller than a grown-up person’s thumb. A newborn koala is even smaller. A newborn opossum is smaller yet – no bigger than a bee.

How do such tiny creatures stay safe? After they are born, they spend months in a pouch on the mother’s body. They don’t even peek out. They just drink milk and grow.

            Then, for a while, they spend part of the day outside the pouch. But they jump back in again when something scares them.

Even after they leave the pouch, the babies stay close to the mother. An opossum rides on its mother’s back when she looks for food. A koala baby rides piggyback as its mother moves through the treetops eating eucalyptus leaves.

A kangaroo baby is called a joey. It outgrows its pouch at about 8 months old. Then it hops along beside its mother.

All these young are tiny and weak at first, but they grow into big, strong animals. A full-grown opossum is about as big as a cat. A full-grown koala is a bit larger. An adult kangaroo is nearly as tall as an adult person.

Picture Credit : Google

Mammal Food

The newborn lion cub is hungry. It pushes its way past all its brothers and sisters. Latching onto its mother’s nipple, it drinks her warm, sweet milk.

As the lion cub grows, its jaws become strong. Its baby teeth fall out, and stronger, sharper teeth grow in. The lion cub learns to bite and tear and gnaw and chew. Now it needs more than milk when it is hungry. It needs meat.

Some young animals just follow their mother around and eat whatever she eats. But others need to be taught how to eat grown-up food.

The lion cub follows its mother when she hunts. She lets it play with the animal she has killed. The cub tastes the meat. The young lion finds it likes this kind of food.

Every baby mammal drinks milk for awhile after it is born. But mammals learn to eat the kind of food their parents eat.

Baby antelopes, horses, cows, elephants, and giraffes grow up to eat plants. Lion cubs, wolf pups, and baby walruses grow up to eat other animals. Bears row up to eat both plants and animals. But they all started out drinking mother’s milk.

Picture Credit : Google

Animals Can Be Your Friend

When you think of pets, what do you think of? Many people think of dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, or fish. Other people think of snakes, insects, monkeys, pigs, or even llamas. Still others think of tarantulas or iguanas.

All around the world, people love animals as pets. In Japan, children train pet mice to dance, and some people keep pet jellyfish. Mongooses are common pets in India. Large sea birds called cormorants are popular pets in China.

What kind of pet is right for you? Kittens and puppies are fun to play with. Birds and fish are fun to watch. Cats, fish, and snakes are quiet pets.

Dogs and birds can be quite noisy, but they can be trained to do tricks. If you want an unusual pet, how about a hedgehog, a tropical fish, or a mouse?

Getting a new pet is fun and exciting. But remember—your pet probably will be with you as long as it lives. So will your responsibility to your pet! Make sure that you and your pet are a perfect match.

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Dolphins eat fish. Deer eat leaves. Bats eat moths. Cats eat mice. Mice eat almost anything they can find. But when these animals are babies, they all eat the same thing – milk that comes from their mothers. No baby mammal eats any other kind of food until it begins to grow up.

Most mammal babies live inside the mother’s body before they are born. A baby mammal is joined to its mother by a hose-like tube. The baby gets food from the mother’s body through the tube. When the baby grows big enough, it comes out of the mother’s body.

Many kinds of mammal babies are weak and helpless for a long time. Mice, kittens, puppies, and human babies are born with weak legs. Some mammal babies are stronger. A moose calf can walk after just a few days. A pronghorn, which looks like an antelope, can run very fast when it is only one day old.

Picture Credit : Google

 

Meet the Mammals

What do a human being and a whale have in common with a cat? They all have hair or whiskers!

What does a mother cat have in common with a mother bat? They both feed their babies milk from their bodies.

What does a polar bear have in common with a camel? The body of each animal stays the same temperature no matter how cold or hot it is outside.

What do all of these animals have in common with one another? They are all mammals! If an animal drinks its mother’s milk when it is young, has hair or fur, and is warm-blooded, it’s a mammal.

 

Plants and Animals

Animals and plants are different. But they couldn’t live without each other! Plants capture energy from sunlight and use it to make roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit. Animals eat plants, or they eat other animals that eat plants. When animals die, their bodies break down and put nutrients, or food, back into the soil for plants.

Animals breathe in air. When they breathe out, the air is mixed with a gas called carbon dioxide. Plants take carbon dioxide out of the air to make food—and then release fresh air. In this way, the plants get the carbon dioxide they need, and the animals get fresh air.

Insects help plants by spreading pollen from one flower to another. The plants need pollen to form seeds and grow fruit. Other animals eat the fruit. They spread the seeds through their droppings. So animals help make new plants grow.

Picture Credit : Google