Our Earth is home to more than 8.7 million species of animals.  Animals produce young to grow and populate the earth. In this book, we will be exploring around the world to identify animals and their young.  

This animal is a Sloth. Sloths live in rainforests. They sleep most of the day. Sloths are the slowest mammals in the world and move about one foot every minute. 

 A young sloth is called a kitten. Kittens will cling to their mother's fur until they are old enough to climb by themselves. 

This creature is a hare. Hares belong to the rabbit family but have much longer ears and legs and a larger body. Hares do not live in burrows like rabbits and instead use their speed to defend themselves. 

A baby Hare is called a leveret. Leverets are born with fur and are also able to see and move right after birth. Unlike rabbits, leverets are born above ground often in nests made of grasses.

You may have seen this animal in the zoo. This is a gorilla. They spend a lot of time with their families.  Gorillas eat plants, such as bamboo, and insects, like termites and ants. An adult gorilla eats around 50 pounds of food a day. 

Baby gorillas are known as infants. Infants will nest in the trees until they are old enough to protect themselves against other animals. Infants are raised by multiple members of the troop but mainly cling to their mothers for food, play, and sleep.

This creature is known as an Echidna. To protect itself the Echidna will roll itself into a ball with its spines out. Echidnas are toothless so they use their long, sticky tongue to search for termites in the soil. 

Baby Echidnas are known as puggles. Puggles hatch from an egg inside the mother's pouch. Puggles are born blind and hairless. The puggle will gain its spines around seven weeks old.