Page 96 - One Million Things: Animal Life - The Incredible Visual Guide

PARENTAL CARE

For many animals, reproduction is a matter of laying eggs and leaving
them to hatch. But some animals, notably birds and mammals, show
parental care by looking after their young. Parental care makes it more
likely that an animal will survive the dangerous early days of life.

DOMESTIC CAT
Many young mammals, including cats, are born helpless—often
blind and unable to move much. They are totally dependent on
their mother for warmth, protection, and food in the form of
milk, which they suckle from her nipples.

ELEPHANT
Some mammals, including
elephants and hoofed mammals,
give birth to young that can
walk and run soon after birth. A
young elephant is nurtured by its
mother and her female relatives
within the herd, who devote
many years to its care.

KANGAROO
Young marsupial mammals,
such as kangaroos, are born SCORPION
tiny and underdeveloped. They
After giving birth to live young, a female scorpion carries them
migrate to their mother’s pouch
on her back until they can fend for themselves. Some other
and remain there for months,
arachnids, including certain types of spiders, guard their eggs,
protected and feeding on milk,
even wrapping them in a ball of silk and hauling them around.
as they grow and develop.

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