Why animals live where they do
You eat bacon and cereal for breakfast. A bear eats fish and berries.
Some kinds of animals eat only food from plants. Some kinds eat only
other animals. Some animals eat both kinds of food. But each kind of
animal has its favorite food and must live where it can get what it
needs.
Cows eat grass. Zebras and gazelles do, too. So they do not live in the
forest, but on big plains where there is plenty of grass to eat. Lions
eat gazelles and zebras. So lions live on the big plains, too, where
they will be near their kind of food.
Giant pandas live in the mountains in southern China. The pandas eat
young bamboo plants. The kind of
bamboo the pandas eat grows only in the mountains where the pandas live.
The pandas couldn’t move to another part of China. There would be no
food for them in another place.
Koalas live in Australia. They eat only the leaves of 12 kinds of
eucalyptus trees. And the koalas can eat only a few of the leaves on
each tree. So a koala must live where there are plenty of eucalyptus
trees.
Meat-eating animals must live near the animals they eat. Plant-eating
animals must live near the plants they eat. And each kind of plant must
live in the place that’s just right for it. That’s why, everywhere in
the world, some kinds of plants and animals always live together.
Cheetahs, Zebras, and Giraffes
Plant-eaters, such as zebras and giraffes, live where the plants they
eat grow. Meateaters, such as cheetahs, live where the plant-eaters
do.
