Page:Growing Up (1928).djvu/85

 mamma. Milk from the mother's breast is the first food of all mammals, but most of the four-legged animals soon start eating other things. The milk that is brought every day to our homes is the milk that the cow has for her calf, but when we drink it we are not harming the calf for he needs only a little of his mother's milk.

The animals do not need to be taken care of by their mothers and fathers for nearly so long a time as babies do. Many young animals do not even see their father. The little care they must have is given to them by the mother, and the father wanders away and forgets all about his family. There are some animal fathers, however, that stay with their children and help the mother to show them how to find their food. The lion helps the lioness to teach the baby lion how to hunt, but before the young lion is two years old he is a skilful enough hunter to find his own food and to take care of himself. Horses and cows usually have grown to be as big as their parents by the time they are two years old and so have dogs. Rabbits are full grown in less than a year and nearly all these animals do not need the care of their mothers