Animals and their babies
Biology · Early Years · The School
Every animal was a baby
Every animal starts small. Then it grows bigger. A tiny puppy grows into a dog. A chick grows into a hen. A lamb grows into a sheep. Put a baby animal and its grown-up side by side. You can often see what makes them the same. The same ears. The same tail. The same sort of feet.
Babies have their own names
Lots of baby animals have a special name. A baby dog is a PUPPY. A baby cat is a KITTEN. A baby cow is a CALF. A baby sheep is a LAMB. A baby horse is a FOAL. A baby chicken is a CHICK. A baby frog is a TADPOLE. And a tadpole looks nothing like a frog at all.
Not the same, but the same kind
A baby is never exactly like its parents. A puppy might have different patches from its mother. But a puppy always grows into a dog. It never grows into a cat. Animals have babies of their own kind. That is one of the first big ideas in science.
Draw a cat and a kitten. The kitten is a small cat. It has the same ears, the same tail and the same whiskers. Now draw a butterfly and its baby. The baby is a CATERPILLAR. It has no wings. It has many legs. It is a completely different shape. It even eats different food. The same is true for a frog and a tadpole. Some babies just grow bigger. Others rebuild themselves completely. And you cannot guess which, just by looking at the parent.