Animal of the Week - Bull

day 1 -

craft - http://www.first-school.ws/activities/hometoys/ccow.html

- poem - THIS LITTLE CALF
(Extend fingers, push each down in succession)

This little calf eats grass.
This little calf eats hay.
This little calf drinks water.
This little calf runs away.
This little calf does nothing
But just lies down all day.
(Rest last finger in palm of hand)

day 2 - animal -
what do they eat? A bull is a herbivore. A bull's diet is mainly grass and hay. They graze on grass for 8 hours a day. They wrap their tongue around the grass and pull it (they don't bite it with their teeth.) Sometimes people give them vitamins and/or corn to eat. They use their mouth to suck up water (not their tongues like other animals). they drink about 35 gallons of water and eat 100lbs of grass a day. they also like fruits and vegetables.
do other animals try to eat them? People eat them. People also use their skin to make leather.
what is their skin like? They are furry. Some have long shaggy fur and some have short sleek fur.
what color are they? bulls come in many colors. red, black, white, yellow, brown, and grey. They can be a mix of any of these too. No two bulls have exactly the same pattern of spots.
hatch or born? They are born. A calf weighs about 80 pounds at birth.
what are they like as babies? Newborn cattle, called calves, are able to walk and then run shortly after they are born. The calf drinks mother's milk and eats grass for the first six months, until it is weaned from its mother. It weighs about 400 pounds at this time. gestation is 9 months.
can they be a pet? Dexter breed is the smallest type of cow. This cow was bred to be a small size for household living.
what senses do they use? They can not see all colors. They have very good hearing and smelling.
what size are they? 5-11 feet long, 2.3-7 feet tall, 330-2600lbs,
other description? they live about 18 years. the oldest recorded was 48 year old.
do boy and girls look different? bulls are boys. cows are girls. Cows have udders and make milk, bulls don't. They both have horns but boy's horns are bigger. boys are much larger than girls.
habits? everyone in the herd will do the same thing at the same time. ex. everyone will eat. everyone will lay down. they only sleep from 2 to 10 minutes at a time, and they only get about an hour’s worth of sleep in a 24-hour period. Cows can sleep standing up.



day 3 - habitat -

land, air, sea? bulls live on land. They can swim. Not very well though. They have a lot of air in their stomach to help keep them afloat.

what is their habitat like? very grassy, not many other large animals,

what other (of the same) animals live around them? the families like to live in groups (10-350)small families only have 1 bull. large families have a few bulls but still a lot more cows.

What other (different) animals live around them? no other large animals share space with cattle. lots of medium and small animals that are native to the area do though.

where do they live on the map/globe? parts of Africa, Asia, and the islands of Southeast Asia; eastern Europe; and North America

what is that place like? islands, prairies and steppes, rain forests, wetlands, savannas, temperate forests and taiga


Sources:
http://www.watersheds.org/farm/beef.htm
http://www.kidsarus.org/kids_go4it/growit/raiseit/cattle.htm
http://cow_baby.tripod.com/cowfacts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle
http://www.alphabet-soup.net/farm/farmpoem.html
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-cattle.html
http://www.fergusonfoundation.org/hbf/cow_in_out/cowmoreinfo.html
http://www.funshun.com/amazing-facts/cow-animal-facts.html
http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/colors.html#White