Cows are mammals. All animals that make milk are called mammals. Some examples are cows, goats, sheep, cats, dogs, and horses. Mammals live all around the world.
Humans are mammals. All mammals have hair or fur. People have hair. The hair on animals is called fur. Look at the fur on the horses in the picture.
What color is the fur of these horses?
- The big horse has ______________ fur and the small has light ______________ fur.
The white horse has a white mane and a white tail. A mane is the fur on the head and neck of the horse. The brown horse has a dark brown mane. The brown horse also has white fur on its nose.
Mammals give birth. Mothers give birth to babies that are alive. This is different from birds or fish. Birds and fish lay eggs. The picture of the horses above shows a big horse and a small horse. The big horse is a mother horse, and the small, brown horse is her baby. A baby horse is called a foal.
This brown foal is lying down because it is easy. Foals can walk soon after they are born. They are not good at walking. They are a little clumsy. Clumsy means they fall a lot and cannot walk well.
Questions about mammals
Have you ever seen an animal give birth?
- Yes, I have.
- What kind of animal?
- I have seen a __________ give birth.
- What kind of animal?
- No, I haven’t.
Have you ever seen a baby animal walk?
- Yes, I have.
- What kind of animal?
- I have seen a __________ walk.
- What kind of animal?
- No, I haven’t.
Are baby animals good at walking?
- Yes, they are.
- No, they aren’t.
Have you ever seen a baby animal breastfeed?
- Yes, I have.
- No, I haven’t.
As soon as baby mammals are born, they drink milk from their mother.
Some mammals are even found in the ocean. Whales, dolphins, seals, walruses, and sea lions are all mammals. They give birth to live young and breastfeed them immediately after birth.
Mammals and Milk
Cows produce milk. Look at the picture below:
The picture is of a baby cow. A baby cow is called a calf. This is a brown calf. It still drinks milk from its mother. People also drink cow milk, especially children. Farmers feed cows and milk the cows twice a day.
Do you like cow milk?
- Yes, I do.
- No, I don’t.
In the United States, we use a lot of milk. We eat cereal for breakfast. We pour cereal and milk into our bowl and eat both with a spoon. There are more than 200 kinds of cereal sold in the United States.
Do you eat cereal?
- Yes, I do.
- No, I don’t.
Do people in your country eat cereal?
- Yes, they do.
- No, they don’t.
Cow milk is not the only kind of milk. There are many different kinds of milk. What other animals produce milk? Can you think of three?:
____________________, ________________________, and ______________________
This is a picture of a sheep. Sheep also produce milk.
Another animal that produces milk for people in the United states are goats. Outside of the United States, water buffalos and camels are other milk-producing animals.
Dairy
[photo: dairy]
We call milk dairy. People make many things from milk. What is made from milk?
____________________, ________________________, and ______________________
We use milk to make butter, cream, cheese, and yogurt.
Here are some milk & drink vocabulary.
Cheese
[photo: cheese]
Do you like cheese?
- Yes, I do.
- No, I don’t.
All around the world people love cheese. There are ten different types of cheeses. Each type has many varieties. One type of cheese is hard cheese, like parmesan and cheddar. Another example is blue cheese, like roquefort and gorgonzola. A third is fresh cheese, like mozzarella.
Which variety of cheese do you like?
- I like _____________ cheese.
How do you eat that variety?
- I eat ____________ cheese by itself.
- with fruit.
- on my fruit.
- with meat.
- with honey.
- on a sandwich.
There are thousands of varieties of cheese worldwide. Some people say that France has over 400 varieties of cheese! Can you believe that?
- Yes, I can.
- No, I can’t.
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