Spring is on the way, and with it the promise of adorbs newborn animals. Wanna brush up on your baby IQ? Here are seven adaptations that our cottage country creatures use to survive their first days on the planet.
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Outdoors
7 ways baby animals survive in the wild after being born
Camouflage
A whitetail deer fawn’s spotted coat helps to conceal it from potential predators when Ma leaves baby tucked away in a forest thicket as she searches for food. A fawn can have up to 300 white spots, usually in two rows along either side of the spine and scattered across both sides of the body.
Fur from the get-go
Leverets—a.k.a. young hares—are born aboveground. Unlike hairless newborn rabbits, they need a fur coat from the moment they enter the world—they have no snuggly warm burrow to protect them. A mother hare gives birth out in the open, in a shallow depression in the ground or on a flattened patch of grass. Sounds...not cozy.
Ready to run
Or at least, ready to walk. Caribou calves are on their feet and prepared to travel within hours of birth. This is an adaptation common to “precocial” species: animals and birds that are born mobile and able to feed themselves almost immediately.
Got legs?
Most frogs and toads hatch in the water. They emerge as tadpoles from jelly-covered, fertilized eggs. No need for legs when you’ve got that awesome, whip-like tail! But a few frog and toad species—those that breed and lay eggs on land—have legs from birth. Some babies hatch from eggs as froglets and toadlets; others are born live.
Some like it fat
Soon after birth, baby polar bears and other mammals that live in aquatic environments or cold climates need an immediate infusion of calories. They have to put on weight quickly. This is why a mother polar bear’s milk is around 30 per cent fat. Blue whale milk, meanwhile, is about 40 per cent fat, and seal milk tops the charts at 60 per cent fat. Human milk, on the other hand, has a measly three to five per cent fat content. It’s a wonder we can even survive.
Got teeth?
Some birds and lizards—plus warm-climate snakes that hatch out of eggs—are born with an egg tooth: a sharp protrusion they use to crack their shell from inside when it’s time to bust out. They lose the tooth a few weeks after they’re born. Jackpot, says the Tooth Fairy.
Blind as a baby
Cougars (along with domestic cats, dogs, and other species with short gestation periods) are born with their eyelids squeezed shut and their ear canals closed; they’re effectively blind and deaf. How is this helpful? These senses need more time to develop before the baby can use them.
