Animals And Their Homes (Rev, 1978)

care to live in this neighborhood well let's take a walk around maybe you'll find a home you like I'd like to show you a nice home by the water it's a little hard to see of course but that's what makes it so special see it now it's there somewhere here it is a duck nest complete with duck oh I'm sorry the duck seems to be sitting on eggs you'll need a closer look to see how finely woven together the stems and Blades of grass are see a warm and cozy place I hope you don't mind babies in a few weeks these eggs will hatch into ducklings I know you'll love them if you move around here they're so helpless at first but there's nothing to worry about they've got a safe home and the mother duck will take good care of them the ducklings will stay in the nest until they learn how to swim and fly why that's something to look forward to if you move into this neighborhood now maybe you'd rather see a different kind of home by the water here's a GRE busy gathering materials for its [Music] nest notice how nicely The gb's Nest is hidden among the Reeds that's a home to be proud of careful careful well I guess I don't have to warn her about eggs she's the expert not me now here's some very serious construction work going on beavers don't fool around to build their house they have to pile up a lot of small trees and branches it may not look like much more than a mound of mud from the outside but on the inside this is what it looks like it's quite a place and here is how the beaver gets in clever isn't it a home like this may not be to your liking but it certainly suits the beaver we have some underwater homes in the neighborhood too care to have a look take a deep breath this isn't a ball of threads it's a home the nest of a fish called a stickleback well here are the sticklebacks themselves perhaps you've noticed that they use small underwater plants to build their nests you know there may be eggs in that Nest maybe the stickleback would like it better if we left but perhaps you're not interested in living near water well there are some other places around here we might take a look at oh a rabbit its home should be nearby here it is and with babies inside they look so helpless don't they but don't worry they're fine in this Nest the outside is made of grass but the inside is lined with the rabbit's own hair that keeps the young rabbits warm if you're looking for something different on the ground you might be interested in this horned Lark's Nest it's a little hard to see but that's fine when your nest is full of eggs being hard to see helps protect your eggs but not always at least not from Hungry ground squirrels well unfortunately things like that can can happen wherever your home is but do you think you might be more interested in something above the ground I can show you a nice Robin's Nest under construction you'd be surprised how a few pieces of grass and twigs stuck together with mud can become a nice place for youngsters to grow up in the nest is home to the baby robins until they learn how to fly now don't think if you lived in a tree all your neighbors would be Birds squirrels have their nests up here too the squirrel's home is in this hole in the tree it would be very hard for you to get inside but the squirrel does it easily well you've seen a lot of homes around here but perhaps this neighborhood isn't quite what you want well then how about the mountains Eagles seem to like nests and trees on mountaintops even baby eagles are big so Eagle nests have to be very strong Eagles don't have many enemies but I don't know if they'd be very friendly neighbors or much fun if you're looking for fun perhaps you'd like your home near where gophers live they're more playful than Eagles a gopher digs a long tunnel called a burrow and builds its nest in there Gophers are good diggers in one night a gopher can dig a burrow that's 300 times as long as it is that's some digging prairie dogs have to do some digging too the burls are narrow so they help keep prairie dogs safe from larger animals you think those two are good friends I don't know about that but I do know that prairie dogs often make their homes close to each other if you like crowded neighborhoods then look at this wasps like these always live together their nests aren't made of Twigs or grass or mud like the other nests we've seen these wasps use material that is very much much like paper they make it themselves by chewing leaves and soft wood if you'd like your crowded neighborhood to be near water then maybe you'd be interested in this place the mud they're Gathering is for their nests you can see that the cliff swallows build their nests close together the high cliff gives them good protection from enemies and from the weather too people have to learn how to build a home not animals they just do it their instinct tells them how when it's time to lay eggs a robin starts to gather twigs and grass and mud and a duck finds a well- hidden place for its nest a beaver goes where good branches are and builds its home in the water animals are born knowing how to build their homes and where to build them and you've seen lots of them have you found an animal home you like well just let me know and I'll be glad to help you settle down for