Young Ones of Animals and Birds for the Assam Police Constable (AB & UB) Exam
The names of the young ones of animals and birds make up a small and charming corner of the General English paper, and they are among the easiest marks in the whole vocabulary section. A question here gives the name of an animal and asks for its young one, or gives the young one and asks for the animal. There is no reasoning and no context to read; there is only a list. The only difficulty is that a few animals share the same word for their young, and a few words look as if they belong to a different animal altogether. This page arranges the young ones by group, separates the domestic from the wild, explains the small confusions, and gives the high-yield pairs that repeat in the paper. The material follows the standard grammar and vocabulary reference books used for Assam recruitment examinations and is reviewed before it is published.
How This Portion Is Set
The examiner generally uses four animals in a single question, or gives one animal with four possible young ones and asks for the right one. Sometimes the question is reversed and the young one is given. In both cases the answer comes from memory, so the list is the whole of the preparation.
Domestic Animals and Their Young Ones
The young ones of the animals we see every day are the ones asked most often.
- Dog and puppy; cat and kitten.
- Cow and calf; buffalo and calf; horse and foal.
- Sheep and lamb; goat and kid; pig and piglet.
- Hen and chick; duck and duckling; goose and gosling.
- Rabbit and bunny; ass or donkey and foal.
Wild Animals and Their Young Ones
In the wild, many young ones share the general word cub, and only a few have a name of their own.
- Lion and cub; tiger and cub; bear and cub; wolf and cub.
- Elephant and calf; deer and fawn; kangaroo and joey.
- Fox and cub; jackal and pup; monkey and baby.
- Rhinoceros and calf; hippopotamus and calf.
Birds and Their Young Ones
Bird young ones are a favourite because several of them carry a distinct and pleasant word.
- Hen and chick; turkey and poult; pigeon and squab.
- Duck and duckling; goose and gosling; swan and cygnet.
- Eagle and eaglet; owl and owlet; hawk and eyas.
Water Animals, Insects and Amphibians
This group is smaller but it is asked often enough to be learnt.
- Fish and fry, also called fingerling; frog and tadpole.
- Butterfly and caterpillar; moth and caterpillar.
- Mosquito and larva, also called wriggler; housefly and maggot.
- Bee and grub; oyster and spat.
Do Not Confuse Young Ones with Homes
The examination sometimes mixes the two ideas, and a candidate who has learnt the young ones casually may supply a home instead. A puppy lives in a kennel but is not called a kennel; a chick lives in a nest but is not called a nest. The young one is the animal itself, and the home is the place, and the two lists should always be learnt apart.
English Usage Around Young Ones
A few words change the way they are used when they stand for the young. Calf, lamb, kid and cub are counted with the usual number words and can be used for both male and female young. Some words, such as foal and calf, cover more than one kind of animal, so the animal must be mentioned when the meaning would otherwise be unclear.
Traps That Cost Marks
- Giving the home instead of the young one, as in writing nest for chick.
- Writing lamb for the young of a goat, when the young of a goat is a kid.
- Forgetting that the young of a swan is a cygnet and not a duckling.
- Using puppy for the young of a cat, when it is a kitten.
- Mixing fry, the young of a fish, with the young of a frog, which is a tadpole.
High-Yield Pairs to Memorise
- Dog and puppy; cat and kitten; cow and calf.
- Horse and foal; sheep and lamb; goat and kid; pig and piglet.
- Lion and cub; tiger and cub; deer and fawn; kangaroo and joey.
- Hen and chick; duck and duckling; goose and gosling; swan and cygnet.
- Frog and tadpole; butterfly and caterpillar; fish and fry.
A Revision Plan for This Block
- Make four columns: domestic, wild, birds and water, and learn one column a day.
- Underline the animals that share the word cub, so that the shared ones are not counted twice.
- Keep the young ones and the homes on two separate pages and never revise them together.
- Write one sentence for every pair, so that the word is learnt in use.
- Revise the whole list twice a week and test yourself by covering the young-one column.
Group Words Connected with the Young
A few words name a group of young ones rather than a single young one, and the paper likes them because they are precise. A litter is a group of young born to a dog, a pig or a cat at one time. A brood is a group of young birds hatched or cared for together, and a clutch is the set of eggs from which they hatch. A flock is a group of sheep or birds, and a herd is a group of cattle or deer. Knowing these group words keeps the answer exact when the question asks for the young of a particular animal.
More Young Ones for Practice
- Dog and puppy; cat and kitten; cow and calf.
- Buffalo and calf; horse and foal; ass and foal.
- Sheep and lamb; goat and kid; pig and piglet.
- Lion and cub; tiger and cub; leopard and cub.
- Bear and cub; wolf and cub; fox and cub.
- Deer and fawn; elephant and calf; rhinoceros and calf.
- Kangaroo and joey; monkey and baby; hare and leveret.
- Hen and chick; turkey and poult; pigeon and squab.
- Duck and duckling; goose and gosling; swan and cygnet.
- Eagle and eaglet; owl and owlet; hawk and eyas.
- Fish and fry; frog and tadpole; butterfly and caterpillar.
Young Ones in Sentences
The names of young ones are often tested inside a sentence, and the candidate must supply the word that fits the meaning and not merely the animal. A sentence may speak of a shepherd caring for a lamb, a stable where a foal is kept, or a pond where tadpoles swim. Reading the sentence first, and asking which young one belongs to the creature named, answers the question more safely than recalling a list without looking at the context.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the young one of a goat called?
The young one of a goat is a kid. A lamb is the young one of a sheep, and the two are often confused in the examination.
What is the young one of a swan?
The young one of a swan is a cygnet. The young one of a duck is a duckling and of a goose is a gosling, so the three water birds should be learnt together.
What is the young one of a frog?
The young one of a frog is a tadpole. It lives in water and develops into an adult frog through a process of change.
Which animals have a cub as their young one?
The lion, tiger, bear, wolf and fox are among the animals whose young one is called a cub. The word cub is therefore shared by several animals.
What is the young one of a kangaroo called?
The young one of a kangaroo is a joey. It is carried in the pouch of the mother until it is able to move about on its own.