Animal Homes Coloring Pages
Animals are some of the best builders around. They dig tunnels, weave nests and stack up whole lodges, all without a single tool except their teeth, claws and beaks.
Jump to: Up in the Trees | Burrows and Dens | Insect Homes | In the Water | On the Farm
Up in the Trees
Owl Hollows
Most owls never build a nest of their own. They move into a hollow that rotted out of an old trunk or a hole a woodpecker dug and left behind, and some barn owls are happy with a quiet corner of a real barn. The burrowing owl skips trees altogether and moves into an empty prairie dog hole.
Bird Nests
Birds weave their nests with nothing but a beak and hundreds of trips back and forth with twigs, grass and moss. A robin lines its nest with mud and smooths it into shape with its chest, and a tiny hummingbird uses stretchy spider silk so the nest can grow along with the babies. Birds that like to nest inside a hole are glad to move into a birdhouse instead.
Trees
A single big oak tree is like a whole apartment building. In Britain alone, more than two thousand kinds of birds, insects and other creatures depend on oaks for food or shelter. The Norse even imagined a world tree called Yggdrasil, with an eagle living at the top and a squirrel racing up and down the trunk carrying messages.
Burrows and Dens
Prairie Dog Town
Prairie dogs live in underground "towns" full of tunnels, with separate rooms for sleeping and raising babies. The mounds of dirt around each hole keep rainwater from flooding in and make a handy lookout spot for watching for hawks. Some towns are enormous, and one found in Texas around 1900 was home to an estimated 400 million prairie dogs.
Rabbit Burrows
A group of rabbit burrows all joined together is called a warren, and it can have dozens of entrances so there's always an escape route. When a mother rabbit is ready to have babies, she digs a short burrow of her own and lines it with soft fur from her chest. Every time she leaves, she fills in the doorway with soil so nothing can find her kits.
Fox Dens
A fox's den is called an earth, and foxes often save themselves the digging by taking over an old rabbit or badger hole. They mostly use it in spring, as a safe nursery for their cubs. The rest of the year a fox usually sleeps outside, curled up with its bushy tail wrapped over its nose like a blanket.
Bear Dens
A bear's winter den might be a cave, a hole dug into a hillside or a snug space under the roots of a fallen tree. Once the bear settles in, its heartbeat slows right down and it can go for months without eating. Mother bears even have their tiny cubs in the den in the middle of winter, and the cubs nurse and grow until spring.
Insect Homes
Beehives
Honeybees make wax right from their own bodies and shape it into six-sided cells. That shape packs together with no gaps, so the bees get the most storage space out of the least wax. The dome-shaped hive you see in old pictures is called a skep, a basket of coiled straw that beekeepers used for hundreds of years.
Anthills
An anthill is really just the roof. Down below, the ants dig a maze of tunnels and little rooms, some for storing food and some for looking after the eggs and young. Every grain of soil in the hill was carried up from underground, one tiny load at a time.
Termite Mounds
Termites build some of the tallest homes in the animal world for their size. Some mounds in Africa stand taller than a grown-up, built from soil, spit and chewed wood that dries as hard as brick. Inside, a network of chimneys lets warm air escape, which keeps the whole colony cool even under the hot sun.
In the Water
Beaver Lodge
A beaver lodge looks like a messy pile of sticks, but inside there's a dry, cosy room sitting just above the waterline. Beavers stack up branches and pack them with mud, and in autumn they plaster the outside with even more mud, which freezes as hard as stone in winter. The only doors are underwater, and if the pond gets too shallow, the beavers simply build a dam to make it deeper.
Duck Ponds
Ducks spend so much time on the water that their feathers need to be waterproof. They have a special gland near the tail that makes oil, and a duck spends part of every day spreading it over its feathers with its bill. That's why water rolls right off a duck's back.
Clownfish and Anemones
A clownfish lives among the stinging tentacles of a sea anemone, where hungry bigger fish won't follow. A slimy coat on its skin keeps it from getting stung. The anemone gets something out of the deal too, since the clownfish chases off fish that like to nibble on anemones and keeps its home tidy.
On the Farm
Cow Barns
Many old barns have a roof that bends partway down, called a gambrel roof. That shape makes a lot more room up in the hayloft, so farmers could store enough hay to feed the cows all winter. Dairy cows come into the barn at least twice a day to be milked, and most of them know their own stall.
Pig Pens
Pigs have a reputation for being messy, but they're actually quite tidy about their pens and pick one corner for a bathroom. The mud is there for a good reason. Pigs hardly sweat at all, so a roll in a cool mud puddle is how they keep from overheating on a hot day.
Horse Stables
Each horse in a stable has its own stall, often with a split door so the top half can open and the horse can look out. Horses can doze standing up, because their legs have a special locking trick that holds them steady without any effort. They only lie down for their deepest sleep, and usually when they feel safe.
Sheep Fields
Sheep spend most of their lives out in the fields, and a thick woolly coat means they don't need much of a roof. When farmers do bring them in, the pen is called a fold. Sheep feel safest in a crowd, so a lamb that wanders off will start calling loudly until it finds the flock again.
Doghouses
Dogs come from wolves, which raise their pups in snug dens, and plenty of dogs still love a small, cosy space of their own. A good doghouse is only a little bigger than the dog, so its body heat can keep the inside warm. The door usually sits off to one side to keep out the wind.
Habitats
An animal's home is just one small part of its habitat. The habitat is the whole area it lives in, with all the food, water and space it needs, and it can be anything from a steamy rainforest to the frozen Arctic tundra...