WILDLIFE ANIMALS
Episode 5
Description
Yaya loves animals. She loves visiting the zoo and watching wild life programmes on television. There are so many wonderful animals to look at and admire. Yaya wishes she could have as many animals as possible, but she understands that some animals are not suited for homes or even to play with. Wild life animals are wild. Some cannot be petted or loved as you would a domestic pet. Most of these animals are found game parks, zoos and in the wild.
There are many different types of wild life animals. There are carnivores, such as lions, cheetahs, leopards and alligators which only eat meat. They hunt other animals for food. In zoos and game parks, the rangers provide dead carcases to the animals to eat. In the wild, they hunt for their food on their own.
Herbivores, such as giraffe, deer and rabbits eat only plants such as leaves, vegetables and fruit. There are also animals which eat both meat and greens, these are called omnivores.
There are also different species of animals, such as reptiles and amphibians, which include snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles and crocodiles. These are cold blooded animals which also in most cases have scales all over their bodies, and their bodies can adapt to their surroundings and different temperatures. You will often see reptiles lying I the sun to keep warm, or swimming or lying in water to cool off. Reptiles usually lay eggs and don’t nurse their babies with milk.
Another species of wild animal is the mammal. These are warm blooded animals who carry their babies in their tummies just like humans. They don’t lay eggs, they have live young. Mammals feed their babies with milk, just like a human baby. Some mammals you may recognise are dogs, lions, elephants, horses and rhinos. What you may not know, is that a dolphin and a whale are also mammals, even though they live in the water, they still need to come up to the surface to breathe air. There are over 4000 different spices of mammals including humans.
What is your favourite wild life animal? Do you know if it’s a mammal or reptile? Is it a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore? As humans we are omnivores, just like some wild life animals, we also eat a mixture of meat and vegetables.
Did you know the biggest land animal is the elephant and the biggest ocean animal is the Blue whale. An elephant can weigh up to 6000kg, and can eat up to 185kg of food in one day! A blue whale can weigh up to 200 tons and eat up to 400kg of food in a day.
What are your favourite wild life animals?
