9 Questions About Animal Behaviour Kids Actually Ask

Animals are usually the first thing that gets a young child asking real questions about the world, and it makes sense why. A cat purring on your lap, a dog wagging so hard its whole body shakes, a spider quietly rebuilding a web overnight — these are things kids see constantly, and none of them come with an obvious explanation.

Here are nine of the questions that come up most, with real answers waiting inside.

• Why do bees make honey?
• Why do cats purr?
• Why do dogs wag their tails?
• Why do snakes shed their skin?
• How do spiders build webs?
• Why do zebras have stripes?
• Why do birds sing in the morning?
• Why do snakes flick their tongues?
• Why do dogs tilt their heads?

Every one of these questions starts the same simple way — a kid noticing an animal doing something ordinary, and refusing to just accept it without asking why.