What does it eat?
The biggest difference between mammals and all other kinds of animals is
milk. Mammal mothers feed their babies milk that comes from the mothers’
bodies. No other animals can do this—only mammals.
So the first food of every baby mammal is its mother’s milk. Baby
buffaloes and bear cubs, skunks and squirrels, whales and walruses all
drink milk.
As a baby mammal grows, its jaws get strong. Its baby teeth fall out,
and stronger, sharper teeth grow in their place. The little mammal
learns to bite and tear and gnaw and chew. Then it needs more than milk.
Antelopes and bison need grass.
Giraffes and elephants need leaves.
Wolf pups and lion cubs need meat.
African Lions
Young lion cubs drink milk.
Some babies follow their mother and eat the same things she eats. But
some babies need to be taught how to eat grown-up food.
A father wolf goes hunting and when he comes back, he spits out meat
near his pups. The pups play with it, then they taste it. They find they
like this kind of food. They become meat-eaters and never drink milk
again.
Lion cubs follow their mother when she hunts. She lets them play with
the animal she has killed. Once the cubs taste the meat, they learn to
like it.
Every baby mammal drinks milk for a while after it is born. But as the
babies grow up, they learn to eat the kind of food their mothers and
fathers do.
