Level 8 ➞ Learn About ➞ Environment
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Non-Fiction Graded Readers
Titles in Level 8
African Art
At the Market
What Is a Mammal?
Ice to Steam
Gas and Air
Rain
Clocks
Rivers of the World
Follow the Road Map
The Life Cycle of a Plant
What Is a
Mammal?
What Is a Mammal?
Written by Tracey Michele
Cover photograph of a pig
Photography by Birdwing/RJ (p1, p2 cat, p5); Dreamstime.com/Mgkuijpers (p2 cuscus, p3 cuscus); Graham
Meadows Ltd/www.gmpl.co.nc (p9 top); Digital Stock (p2 lion, p3 kangaroo and lion, p15); Photodisc (p3
monkey, p7 elephant, p11 top); Corbis (p3 polar bear, p13 top); shutterstock.com (Vasilchenko Nikita cover,
p2 pig, Les Scholz p2 echidna, p9 bottom; Vitalii Hulai p7 adult rat, Lipowski Milan p7 baby rat; gallimaufry
p11 bottom; Karen Kean p13 bottom)
© 2013 Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the copyright owner. While every care has been taken to trace and acknowledge copyright, the
publishers tender their apologies for any accidental infringement where copyright has proved untraceable.
Published by
Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Level 1, 15–19 Claremont Street, South Yarra,
Victoria 3141
www.macmillan.com.au
Edited by Ruth Adeane-Nancarrow
Printed in China
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN: 978-1-4586-4272-1
Word Count
High-Frequency
Words
310
all, but, do, from, get, have, her, little,
look, not, of, one, over, people, some, that,
their, they, too, two, very, when
Vocabulary Words baby, camel, female lions, male lions,
mother, spiny anteater
What Is a
Mammal?
Picture Dictionary
Many animals are mammals.
Not all mammals look the same.
Not all mammals live
in the same place.
But all mammals have some things
that are the same.
cat
lion
cuscus
echidna
2
pig
3
All mammals have these things that
are the same –
• The babies drink milk
from their mothers.
• They are warm-blooded.
• They have fur or hair.
• Most mammals give birth
to live babies.
Most mammals give birth
to live babies
All mammal
All mammals
babies drink
have fur
milk from
or hair
their mothers.
All mammals
are warm-blooded
4
5
An elephant mother
and her baby
Mammals Give Birth
to Live Babies
Elephants give birth to babies
that look like little elephants.
Baby rats do not look like
their mothers.
They are less than 2 cm long.
They are born without hair.
Elephants usually have only one
baby at a time,
but rats may have as many
as twenty at one time.
6
A newborn rat
7
Two mammals do not give birth
to live babies.
These mammals lay eggs.
The babies hatch from the eggs.
One of these mammals
is the echidna.
The echidna lays one egg
at a time directly into her pouch.
The egg hatches about
10 days later.
The platypus and the echidna are the
only mammals that lay eggs.
The other mammal that lays eggs
is the platypus.
8
9
Mammal Babies Drink Milk
from Their Mothers
Some mammals carry their babies
around.
These babies can drink milk
all the time.
Some mammals do not carry
their babies around.
They leave their babies.
These babies can only drink milk
when their mother comes back.
10
A monkey mother can carry
her baby.
A pig mother cannot carry her babies.
11
Mammals Are Warm-Blooded
All mammals are warm-blooded.
Their blood stays warm
in hot and cold weather.
Some mammals, such as camels,
live in very hot places.
Their blood stays warm.
Others, such as polar bears,
live in very cold places.
Their blood stays warm, too.
Mammals eat food to get energy.
The energy helps keep
their blood warm.
12
Both this polar bear and this camel
have blood that stays warm.
13
Mammals Have Fur or Hair
All mammals have fur or hair
on their bodies.
People are mammals.
They have hair
on parts of their bodies.
Horses are mammals.
They have hair all over their bodies.
The hair on their bodies is short.
The hair in their mane and tail
is long.
Lions are mammals.
They have fur on their bodies.
14
Male lions have more fur
than female lions.
15
Activity Page
Choose a mammal that you know.
1. Find out how many babies
it has at a time.
2. Find out if the mother carries it around.
3. Find out where on Earth it lives.
4. Find out if it has hair or fur.
5. Find out some other interesting facts about your mammal.
Do you know
the dictionary words?
16