Issue link: https://owlkids.uberflip.com/i/1516659
Y oung cheetahs stay with their mom for about the first two years of their lives. During this time, she protects the cubs by feeding them and teaching them how to survive on their own. Her most important lesson is how to hunt. To begin, Mom will capture a small prey like a newborn gazelle and bring it back to her cubs. She lets them stalk, chase, and capture the meal. Since practice makes perfect, the mother cheetah does this again and again over several months. Eventually, the cubs learn what they need to do to successfully take down prey. F ound in parts of Africa, the southern pied babbler uses a call to teach its nestlings about food. When adults return to the nest with a meal of bugs or small reptiles, they make a call that sounds like a purr. The hatchlings quickly learn that when they hear this song, it's time to eat. So they begin reaching from the nest for their meal. For their next lesson, adults make the purring sound while they're away from the nest. The young babblers follow the song because they've learned to associate it with food. They fly over to the adults, then join them to dig in the soil or turn over leaves to capture their own meal. THAT'S PURR-FECT They may not go to school, but animals still need to learn how to survive in the wilderness. Join these wild students as they get some lessons from their creature teachers! BY MARIA BIRMINGHAM CAT'S GOT ITS MEAL LEARNING WILD ABOUT Incredible!