Next week there will be a special sports competition in the forest. All the animals will take part in it, and they’re preparing for it now.

Mr Rabbit is a famous runner. He did badly in the 100-meter race against a tortoise last year. This time he won’t fall asleep again. He’ll be more careful. And he asked birds to cheer him on. He is sure that he can be the first one to cross the finish line. Mr Monkey is good at jumping. He’ll take part in the high jump and the long jump. It’s bad that he only took the second place in the long jump last year. Now he keeps practicing jumping early in the morning. He believes he’ll be the winner. Tigers will play against lions in the 800-meter relay race. Tigers are practicing passing the stick to each other. A tiger’s feet were hurt not long ago. However, he keeps on running. Tigers will do their best to win first place. Of course, some other animals, such as cats, dogs and elephants are busy playing sports too.

All of the animals hope to get good grades in this sports competition.

We all know that animals are better at some things than humans, and we can usually explain why animals can do some things better than us. One of the natural abilities many animals have is their homing instinct, which can help them find their homes. These animals such as pigeons(鸽子), bees, frogs and cats are able to find their way home, sometimes making journeys of hundreds of kilometers back home. In our daily life, humans can make use of an animal's homing instinct. Pigeons, for example, have been used to send information or carry letters in times of war. Today some people train their pigeons and take part in pigeon races as a hobby.

There are many interesting stories of the homing instinct at work. In the USA, a cat traveled 1,360 kilometers back to its old home after the owners moved, taking nearly a year over the journey. When we lose our kitten, we usually find her again near the house where she was born. We have a pool in the garden where the frogs come back every year. I even heard a dog which was hurt by a car managed to take itself to the house. There are other wonderful stories about the homing instinct. But how do these animals find their way home?

They can't read maps and, as we know, they can't ask each other for directions. It seems that some animals use their sense of smell to take them back to the place where they were born. Other animals such as birds and bees may use the sun, the stars and the moon to help them find their way. Scientists believe that some animals have special things in their brain which help them to find their way. As for cats, nobody really knows how their homing instinct works and I am sure-cats are never going to tell us their secrets.

Animals grow up in different ways. Some newborn animals are helpless but their mothers protect them. A newborn kangaroo is very small. It is only a few centimeters long.

It closes its eyes and doesn’t have hair. It stays safe in its mother’s pouch（育儿袋）for a long time. A newborn monkey can’t walk. Its mother carries it everywhere.

Other baby animals can walk soon after they’re born. They learn to run with their mothers when danger is near. A baby zebra can run an hour after it is born.

Some baby animals are born in a place that is safe. Baby wolves are usually born in big holes with little light. Other baby animals are born in the open. A baby elephant is often born on open land.

Animals that drink their mothers’ milk are called mammals（哺乳动物）. A mother bear’s milk is rich. Baby bears have milk for a few months. This is the same with baby zebras. As baby animals grow, they need solid（固体）food. Baby lions eat what their mother can catch.