How Animals Move

Look at all the moving!

Go outside or look out of your window. Can you see anything moving? Maybe a bird is flying, a dog is running, or a tiny ant is walking along the ground. Almost every animal can move its body from one place to another. But not every animal moves in the same way. Let's find out about all the different ways animals get around.

Walking and running

Lots of animals move on legs. They lift their feet, one after another, to walk and run.

• A dog walks and runs on four legs.
• A horse can run very fast across a field.
• A cheetah is the fastest runner of all. Its long legs and bendy back help it race after its food.
• You walk too — but only on two legs!

Why legs? Legs lift the body off the ground so an animal can move over grass, rocks and hills. Animals with long, strong legs can run quickly to chase food or to run away from danger.

Jumping and hopping

Some animals do not just walk — they jump!

• A kangaroo has big, springy back legs. It hops along the ground and can jump a very long way.
• A frog crouches down low, then pushes hard with its back legs to leap.
• A grasshopper is tiny but can jump high into the air.

Why jump? Strong back legs work like springs. A quick jump helps a small animal get away fast before something can catch it.

Swimming

Animals that live in water need to swim.

• A fish moves its tail from side to side and uses its fins to glide through the water.
• A duck paddles with its webbed feet, like little flippers.
• A dolphin flaps its tail up and down to zoom through the sea.

Why swim? Water is all around these animals, so they cannot walk. A smooth body and fins or flippers help them push the water away and move forward.

Flying

Some animals can lift right off the ground and fly through the air.

• A bird flaps its wings up and down to stay in the sky.
• A bee and a butterfly have wings too, but much smaller ones.
• A bat is the only furry animal (a mammal) that can really fly.

Why fly? Wings push against the air to hold the animal up. Flying lets an animal travel a long way, look down for food, and escape over the heads of other animals.

Slithering and crawling

Not all animals have legs, wings or fins.

• A snake has no legs at all. It wiggles its long body in waves and pushes against the ground to slither.
• A snail glides slowly along on its soft, sticky foot.
• A worm squeezes and stretches its body to crawl through the soil.

Why slither? A long, bendy body can slip into small holes and through long grass where bigger animals cannot go. That helps these animals hide and stay safe.

The body matches the move

Here is a clever thing: an animal's body shape always matches the way it moves. Fins are for water. Wings are for air. Long legs are for running. The body and the movement work together, like a key in a lock. This is one way animals are perfectly suited to their home, or habitat.

Let's move like an animal!

Play a moving game. Take turns to copy an animal, then a friend has to guess which one:

1. Hop like a kangaroo across the room.
2. Flap your arms like a bird flying.
3. Wiggle along the floor like a slithering snake.
4. Pad softly on your hands and feet like a cat.

Which way of moving was the fastest? Which was the slowest? Animals on a farm move in many ways too — you can spot them in our lesson on animals on the farm. Keep watching the animals around you and notice how each one gets around!