Protecting the babies
African Elephants
A mother elephant protects her baby by keeping it between her legs.
If the mother sees an enemy, she lifts her trunk and makes a warning
noise.
Snow whirls through the air.
The wind howls. There’s a blizzard coming to the icy land around the
South Pole. That’s where the emperor penguins live. The grown-up
penguins hurry about, pushing all the baby penguins together. Then the
grown-ups crowd together in a tight circle around the babies. This is
how the grown-up penguins protect the babies from a storm.
In Africa, a mother elephant and her baby trot across a hot, grassy
plain. The mother keeps the baby between her legs as she walks. This is
how she protects it from animals that might try to kill it. If the
mother sees an animal that might be an enemy, she raises her trunk. She
makes a loud screaming noise. This warns the animal not to come too
close!
Three brand-new baby herons lie in a nest in North America. The mother
heron stands on the nest and fans the babies with her wings. The babies
will die if t hey get too hot, so the mother heron keeps them cool.
Baby animals are in danger from many things. Many of them would die or
be killed if they weren’t protected. But many kinds of grown-up animals
protect then- babies from all the things that might harm them.
