Most mammals live and move on the ground. They have four legs and walk by lifting one foot at a time or by trotting. Kangaroos hop and use their tail for balancing.

Mammals that live in forests spend a lot of their time in trees. Monkeys can grasp tree branches with claws and can hang on to them with their curved tail. Mammals often spend time hanging upside down in trees.



Monkeys hang around in trees most of the time.
Image:  Dmitry Makeev, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons



Dolphins and whales are mammals that live and move around in water. Instead of limbs, they have flippers, which they use to move forward. Other animals, like the hippopotamus, only spend some time in the water.

Bats are the only flying mammals. Their wings are made of skin stretched over their bones. They can fly by beating their wings up and down.

Gophers and moles are mammals that spend most of their life underground.



Gophers live underground most of the time
Image: LeonardoWeiss, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons



Words

  • balance = to keep steady and not fall over
  • beat = here : move
  • claw = the sharp, curved nail of an animal
  • flipper = flat part of the body of some sea animals that is used for swimming
  • gopher = North and Central American animal, like a large rat, that lives in holes in the ground
  • grasp = get hold of something with your hand
  • hippopotamus = large grey African animal with a big head and mouth that lives near the water
  • hop = jump
  • limb = arm or leg
  • mole = small. dark, furry animal that is almost blind; moles usually live underground
  • stretch = to go from one place to another
  • tail = part that sticks out of the back part of an animal
  • trot = to move quickly with each front leg moving at the same time as one of the back legs
  • upside down = with the top at the bottom and the bottom at the top