Animal Offspring #3

Fun Facts About Animal Offspring #3

• A baby male horse (colt) is incredibly precocious, standing and running alongside his mother within just a few hours of being born.
• A baby ant (antling) can develop into a different caste (worker, soldier, queen) based on what it is initially fed.
• A baby rabbit (bunny) is born completely hairless, blind, and deaf. Young bunnies open their eyes after ten days, are weaned at about 25 days, and are capable of breeding after four months.
• A baby falcon or hawk (eyas) is a nestling taken young for falconry training. The word comes from the Middle English nyas. But overtime the phrase "a nyas" (meaning "from the nest") was misheard and rewritten as "an eyas."
• A baby gorilla or ape (infant) clings to its mother's fur constantly for the first few months, riding on her back as she moves through the jungle.
• A baby turkey (poult) follows its mother within a day of hatching and quickly learns to forage for insects and seeds.
• A baby mouse or rat (pinky) is aptly named because it is born blind, hairless, and its skin appears pink due to the lack of fur.
• A baby frog or toad (polliwog, tadpole) initially breathes through gills and has a tail. It then dramatically transforms, growing legs, developing lungs, and loses its tail during metamorphosis.