Living things are of different kinds

 

Utahcamera at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

We say dogs and cats are mammals. That tells us a lot about them. That they have four legs. Mammals give birth to young ones and feed them with milk. They don’t lay eggs like many non-mammals do.  Birds and insects are not mammals and they lay eggs. After many days, the young ones that grow inside the eggs break them and come out. They find their own food even on the day they come out of the eggs! 

Now a question: are squirrels’ mammals? Yes, they are. Are squirrels’ rodents? Yes. They are also rodents. What does this mean? Rodents usually have short limbs, small bodies and long tails. They mostly eat plant-based food like nuts. Their front teeth never stop growing. So, they keep gnawing something or the other to keep the teeth becoming too big! 

Srinivasan Ramani

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