Tommy Gehrleih, age 10, of Rochester, New York, for his question:

Why are lambs always born in the spring?

In the world of nature, things are arranged in orderly patterns. For example, the growth of living things is timed to make the best use of the earth’s changing seasons. Wild animals must cope with winter and summer weather. Until a few thousand years ago, the ancestors of our sheep and cattle lived in the wild. Through countless ages, they developed ways to cope with the changing seasons and even in captivity they still keep the successful habits that helped them to survive.

Winter, of course, is the harsh season when food is scarce    especially for sheep and other grazing animals. This is no time to bring baby lambs into the world. The best time ir: early spring, when the pleasant summer season is about to begin. The youngsters fines plenty of food and by fall they learn enough to cope with harsher conditions.  :dot only sheep, but most other animals, arrange to have their children arrive in the springtime.