Animals Are Useful Chapter Notes | Environmental Studies Class 2 ICSE PDF Download

Introduction

Animals are our friends and they help us in many ways. We keep some animals on farms and at home because they are very useful to us. They give us food, clothes, and help us in work. Some animals also help us grow crops and carry things. We even keep some animals as pets because we love them. This chapter tells us how animals are helpful to us and why we should take care of them.

Animals Give Us Food

• Some animals give us milk, like cows, goats, and buffaloes.
• We make many things from milk, like curd, butter, khoya, ghee, cream, paneer, and cheese.
• Hens, geese, and ducks give us eggs.
• We can use eggs to make yummy things like cakes, pastries, and omelettes.
• Grandma says eggs are very healthy for us.
• We can eat eggs in many ways, like fried, boiled, scrambled, poached, or as omelettes.
• Some people eat the meat of animals like goats and chickens, but not everyone eats meat.
• We also eat sea animals like fish, crabs, and prawns as seafood.
• Bees give us honey and wax from their beehives.

Fun Fact

​Dogs were the first animals to be tamed by man.

Animals Give Us Clothes

• We get fur from animals like rabbits, goats, yaks, and sheep.
• We use this fur to make woollen clothes.
• We get silk from silkworms.
• Silk is a soft and fine fibre, and we use it to make silk clothes.
• We make leather from the skin of dead animals.
• We use leather to make things like jackets, shoes, bags, belts, and gloves.

Animals Give Us Manure and Fuel

• Animals like cows, buffaloes, horses, and camels give us dung.
• We use this dung as manure to help plants grow.
• We also dry the dung and use it as fuel to cook food or keep warm.

Animals Help Us to Grow Crops

• Animals like oxen help us in farming.
• Oxen pull water from wells to water the fields.
• Oxen also help us plough the fields to grow crops.
• Oxen help us thrash grains to separate them from the plants.

Animals as Means of Transport

• Some animals help us carry heavy things.
• Animals like horses, camels, mules, and elephants are used to carry loads.
• We call these animals "beasts of burden" because they carry heavy things for us.
• These animals also help us travel from one place to another.
• For example, horses pull carts called tongas to take us around.

Fun Fact

​Camel is known as the ship of the desert.

Other Things from Animals

• We use feathers from birds to fill pillows.
• We make things like combs and toys from the horns and hooves of dead animals.

Animals As Pets

• We keep some animals at home as pets, like cats, dogs, and parrots.
• We love our pets and play with them.
• We should take good care of our pets and be kind to them.