Born Ready, Born Helpless: teacher key

Baby Animals, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. Scientists sort baby birds into two groups: ready to run, or helpless in the nest. See how foals, joeys, calves and tadpoles fit.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What do scientists call chicks that come out well developed and ready to move?
   • Precocial (answer)
   • Altricial
   • Marsupial
2. What protects a foal from disease in its first months?
   • Antibodies in the mare's first milk (answer)
   • A pouch
   • Its egg tooth
3. Which two mammals lay eggs?
   • Wombat and koala
   • Platypus and echidna (answer)
   • Giraffe and foal
4. What can a tadpole in a drying pond do?
   • Speed up or delay its change (answer)
   • Stay a tadpole for good
   • Skip the egg
5. Why might it help a bird in open country to hatch ready to run?
   • It can move right away and avoid predators (answer)
   • It does not need a nest
   • It can fly
6. What does marsupial mean here?
   • A mammal with a pouch for its young (answer)
   • A bird in a nest
   • A frog in a pond

Words

• altricial: helpless at birth
• precocial: ready at birth
• colostrum: first milk
• marsupial: pouch mammal
• monotremes: egg-laying mammals