[bright music] - Hi, friends.

My name is Jo and I'm an animal interpreter here at the Memphis Zoo in Memphis, Tennessee.

And one of the things I get to do every day is talk about the amazing animals that I get to work with.

Today, we're going to talk about animal babies, and all animals start life as babies, but each baby begins life in a unique way.

Let's learn about where babies come from and how adults care for them.

What did you look like as a baby?

Did you take care of yourself or did you need quite a bit of help from the adults in your life?

Some animals, like the elephants, still need a lot of help when they're little from their parents, but Banana here was able to take care of himself right away.

Come on.

Let's go meet some other animal babies and find out where they came from.

Where do babies come from?

Well, they come from their parents.

Some are born from their parents' bodies, some come from eggs laid by their parents, and some are a little bit of both.

Let's go meet some animals that give life birth.

Now, what is live birth?

Live birth just means that a baby came straight out of the body of one of its parents.

So, what kind of animals give live birth?

Mammals, which are animals that have hair like humans, typically give life birth, but sometimes even fish or reptiles, like snakes and lizards, can have live babies as well.

Now, just how many babies can be born at one time?

Sometimes it's just one, other times it's two, but other times there's way more.

Take opossums, for example.

They can have up to 12 babies at one time.

That's a lot of kids to take care of.

Grace here is an opossum and opossums give live birth, but not only that, but she has a special pouch that she uses to hold her babies in when they're really small.

Kangaroos have a pouch.

That's because both kangaroos and opossums are what's called a marsupial.

These are mammals that have pouches to help keep their babies nice and safe while they grow.

Not every baby is born this way, though.

Some come from eggs.

Now, what is an egg?

Eggs are a protective space that some baby animals grow inside before they're ready to enter the world.

Depending on the animal, they either use their heads, their feet, arms, or their beaks to break free, which helps them build up their muscles to survive later in life.

Different species can lay anywhere from one to thousands of eggs at a time.

Humans can't lay eggs, but birds like chickens, reptiles like snakes, amphibians like frogs, or even fish are capable of laying eggs.

And guess what?

All of their eggs are completely unique from each other.

Some are wet and even a little slimy, some are neon green, sometimes they're blue, and other times they can even be the size of a football.

Certain species have to survive on their own right after they enter the world.

This is Banana, the Indian star tortoise, and at one point he was just a teeny tiny egg.

Pregnant turtles and tortoises will go and lay their eggs in a safe space to grow, and after multiple months, the babies will hatch out on their own without the help of their parents.

Unlike human babies, they know how to take care of themselves right away.

Other animal parents stick around short-term to help care for the baby, meaning that they'll help the baby get just strong enough to be on their own.

Sometimes, they'll help their kids for a few weeks.

Other times, they'll only need help for a couple of days.

Female emperor scorpions will help care for their babies for about two weeks, and they can have up to 32 babies at once.

All 32 will crawl onto her back after they're born, and she keeps all of them there until their bodies are strong enough to survive without her help.

Not all babies are like tortoises and can survive on their own.

Sometimes, they still need help from their parents to find food, shelter, and even protection from larger or scarier predators.

Female alligators, for example, will build a nest and lay around 40 eggs.

She then sits on the nest for about two months, keeping her eggs safe and warm while patiently waiting for her babies to hatch.

They then stick around with Mom for up to two years before going off on their own.

She keeps them safe from predators like birds, raccoons, snakes, or even other alligators that like to eat eggs.

But there are other baby animals that will stick around with their parents even longer, like the African elephant.

On average, an elephant will stay with its mother for around 16 years, but their whole family will help take care of them and keep them safe.

Once they reach 16 years old, they can begin making their own families.

We learned so much about baby animals today.

Can you remember what we learned?

All animals start life as babies and all babies come from their parents.

Can you remember the two ways that they can be born?

That's right.

They can be born live or come from an egg.

Sometimes, baby animals spend a long time with their parents, like the elephant, learning how to act like one until they can survive without them.

Other times, baby animals know how to take care of themselves right away, like turtles and tortoises.

We learned about so many animal babies today, but I want to know, what do you think was the cutest?

I really love the baby alligators.

While families come in all different shapes and sizes, I just want to remind everyone that no matter what your family looks like, it is special and you play an important role in it.

From all of us here at the Memphis Zoo, we want to thank you for coming and learning with us.

Bye.