Animals and their babies
Biology · Early Years · The School
Every animal was a baby
Every animal starts small and grows bigger. A tiny puppy grows into a dog. A chick grows into a hen. A lamb grows into a sheep. Looking at 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, never into a cat. Animals have babies of their own kind, and that is one of the first big ideas in science.
Draw a cat and a kitten: the kitten is a small cat with the same ears, tail and whiskers. Now draw a butterfly and its baby. The baby is a CATERPILLAR — no wings, many legs, a completely different shape and even a different diet. Same for a frog and a tadpole. Some babies grow bigger; others rebuild themselves completely, and you cannot guess which from looking at the parent.