1 Animal Babies

World Book's Learning Ladders Animal Babies

该页暂无翻译

Bear It's springtime and two black bear cubs are ready to play! They spent the long winter in a den with their mother, drinking her milk while she slept. Now the mother will teach them to hunt for food. A mother polar bear lives with her cubs in a den. She digs her den in a snowbank on the side of a hill.

Cubs like to play. This helps them to learn about hunting. Strong jaws are good for catching fish. Thick fur keeps the bears warm during the cold winter. Black bear cubs have long, sharp claws, just like their mother. They use their claws to climb trees and to hunt. It's a fact! The phrase "licked into shape" comes from an old belief that bears were born so soft and shapeless that their mothers had to lick them into their shape.

Opossum Last spring, a mother opossum gave birth to a litter of babies, called kits. The tiny babies lived for many weeks inside a pouch on their mother's belly. They drank her milk and grew bigger. Now they are ready to leave the mother's pouch. They will ride on her back until they are able to walk on their own! A possum is an animal related to American opossums. It lives in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands. Opossums have feet that work like hands to grasp things.

Young opossum kits travel by riding on their mother's back. A long, hairless tail is good for climbing trees and hanging upside down! It's a fact! A newborn opossum is about as big as a kidney bean!