Animal Needs

At the first, second and/or third grade level.

By Moira Whitehouse PhD Must download/save to see the custom animations.

All animals have things they need to survive. If an animal does not have these things it will die.

Like animals, people have needs. Let’s think about what you need to survive. Not what you might like to have, but those things you absolutely must have. Without these things, you could no longer live, you would die.

From the following, which things do you need to survive? Not what you like or enjoy—what you

A televisionA pet

NEED

A washing machine A car

a cell phone video games

A school A bed

None of these are things the you need to survive. These are things you might like to have but not having them wouldn’t cause you to die.

Of course you would not die because you did not have a television, video game, a washing machine, a bed, and so on.

So let us look at those things that you really do need to survive.

Try holding your breath. Can you do it for ever?

Why not?

Yes without breathing in air, you would die.

In order to survive, we humans need a gas called oxygen.

Oxygen is one of those things we need to survive.

When we breathe air into our lungs we get oxygen, one of the gases in air.

Yes, water is another one of your needs.

On a hot day in summer when you have been running around outside, you really notice another thing that you need to survive. What is it?

Around lunchtime, you might become aware of another one of your needs. Your stomach growls like a cornered dog.

You might even feels like this.

What need could be causing that?

We must eat food to have the energy to do things, like playing or schoolwork. People can go days, even weeks without eating but in the long run, we must have food or we die.

Yes, when you need food you feel hungry and when you feel hungry it is hard for you to pay attention to school work.

What’s the first thing you think about when you are outside and get really cold?

Of course, you want to go inside your house or school to warm up. Shelter from the weather is another one of your needs. If it gets too cold or too hot for people to live, they die.

Animals have many of the very same needs as people.

We’ve been talking about the things that people need to stay alive, now let’s think about the needs that animals have. Just like we do, all animals have certain needs that must be met if they are to survive—to live, not die.

All animals must be able to move.

A deer runs or walks

A monkey swings through the trees.

A fish swims through the water.

A lion runs fast chasing its prey.

A bird flies through the air.

To move and to grow animals need energy. Think about where you get your energy, then ask yourself: “Where do animals get their energy?”

Just like people, animals also start life very small, like babies, and grow bigger.

1. The Need for Food

Yes, animals get energy to move and grow from the food they eat. Like you, animals need food to survive.

Animals eat plants or other animals

2. The Need for Water

In addition to food, animals also need water to survive.

Like people, most animals cannot live very long without a drink of water.

3. The Need for Oxygen

Animals get oxygen in several different ways.

So, besides food and water what else do animals need to survive?

Like us, they all need oxygen.

Like you, most land animals have lungs and breathe in oxygen directly from the air.

Fish, however, live in water and use their gills to take in oxygen that is in the water.

gills

Insects get their oxygen by breathing through holes in their bodies called spiracles.

Frogs breathe in oxygen with lungs and through holes in their skin.

4. The Need for Shelter

Although it may not be nearly as nice as where you stay, animals also need some type of shelter—a place where they and their young can be safe from bad weather and from bigger animals that may want to eat them.

Some animals, such as prairie dogs, dig a burrow underground. They do this to escape from the heat or cold or from other animals that are trying to eat them.

Birds and squirrels build nests.

For fawns, shelter might be a soft place in grass or leaves in the woods.

Bears find shelter in dens—big holes in rocks.

Only a few people in the world still wander about hunting for their food, water or shelter.

People have invented things such as cars, trucks and airplanes that allow them to move or to carry things long distances.

But since animals don’t drive cars, planes or trucks, in the wild they meet their needs in the area where they live.

Food for wild animals does not come on a plate nor does their water show up in a glass. Nobody builds them a home. They have a certain amount of space to find these things. We call the area where an animal meets its needs area its habitat.

To mark its space or territory, an animal like a coyote, fox or wolf urinates around the boundary. This is like a “keep out”sign telling other coyotes, foxes and wolves to stay out of its space.

Some animals need a large area or space in which to find food, water and shelter.

Other animals need only a small amount of space.

5. The Need for Space

For most animals finding food, water and shelter is not easy.

A male grizzly bear needs between 200 to 500 square miles to satisfy its needs for food, shelter and water.

The city of Fort Worth takes up about 300 square miles of space.

One male grizzly bear would need an area about the size of Fort Worth in order to find enough food and water to stay alive.

Although other animals also live in this large area, it would take all this space to meet the needs of one male grizzly.

On the other hand, an earthworm only needs a very small area in which to live—maybe a few square centimeters.

Remember the area in which an animal lives and satisfies its needs has a name.

This area is called its

habitat.

Now let’s review and see what you remember.

Animals, including people, have certain things they have to have to survive. We call these things their

a. wants b. likes c. needs

Without these things, the animal will ________.

cell phoneball

water

video game oxygen

On these two pages are shown things that you might like to have and things that you need. Circle just those things that you need to survive.

boom box

food bicycletelevision

toys shelter car

Now these

Name the five animal needs.1. f_ _ _2. w _ _ _ _ 3. o _ yg _ _4. sh _ _ _ter5. sp_ _ _

The area in which an animal satisfies its needs is called itsa. place b.

homec. habitat d. country

Which animal would need a very small amount of space to meet its needs?a. a bear b. a wolfc. a mouse d. A bald eagle

Which animal would need a very large amount of space to meet its needs?a. a lady bug b. a wolfc. a mouse d. a fly

This is a happy hippo.

Do you think her needs are being met?