Baby

A piglet.‌[until First Drop 2026]
A piglet.​[upcoming First Drop 2026]
An example of how a bred sheep inherits a mixture of its parents' colors when possible.

Babies are smaller variations of their adult counterparts, having small bodies, relatively big heads (with some exceptions), and faster walking speeds. Their sounds are the same as their adult variants but 50% faster and are pitched up by 6 semitones. The only exception to this is tadpoles, which are a wholly unique mob from frogs. Many baby mobs have different interactions or behaviors compared to their elders, which depend on the mob. For example, lambs (baby sheep) cannot be sheared for their wool; calfs (baby cows ), baby mooshrooms, and baby goats cannot be milked; and baby piglins take gold but do not barter. Most baby mobs do not drop loot or experience when killed, with the exception of items they pick up. The following baby mobs do drop loot and/or experience:

List of baby mobs

The following baby variants exist. Unique names for baby mobs that have them are shown in brackets:

Baby animals

Baby monsters

Others

Separate baby mobs

Frogs are the only mobs with a baby form that is a completely separate mob type with a substantially different appearance and behavior.

Behavior

Most baby animals choose and follow an adult within 8 blocks of the same species, regardless of whether it is their parent. Babies can choose new targets to follow whenever they do not have a valid target, such as when the previous target dies or moves further than 16 blocks away. Tamed kittens and puppies follow their owner if the parent is absent or sitting. Baby animals that do not follow adults consist of:

Humanoid baby mobs (such as villagers, zombies and piglins) never follow adult mobs.

Ghastlings occasionally follow nearby players, most land animals and villagers within a range of 16 blocks, and they prioritize following players.

Using a golden dandelion​[upcoming First Drop 2026] on a baby mob causes it to become "age-locked". Age-locked mobs cannot grow up into adults. Using another golden dandelion on an age-locked mob causes it to no longer be age-locked, and resets its aging so that it grows up in one Minecraft day. Certain baby mobs cannot be age-locked, which consist of:

Variants

When a baby of a species with different fur/pattern variants is born, they usually inherit the pattern of one of their parents, chosen at random, with some exceptions:

  • In the case of sheep, if the parents have "compatible" colors (meaning that their corresponding dye items could be combined into a third dye), the baby inherits a mix of the parents' colors.
  • In the case of mooshrooms, breeding two of the same variant has a 1⁄1024 chance to spawn a mooshroom of the opposite variant. Breeding two mooshrooms of differing variants has an equal chance of a baby mooshroom of either type.
  • In the case of horses, there is a 13⁄45 chance of having a random color/markings instead of matching either of its parents.
  • In the case of axolotls, a baby axolotl bred by a player (not found in the world) has a 1⁄1200 chance to be the rare blue variant, with this being the only way to obtain this variant. Otherwise, it inherits the color of one of its parents at random.
  • Frogs do not inherit their variants from their parents. A frog's variant is determined by the biome it matures from a tadpole in.
  • In the case of goats, the baby has a 2% chance to be a screaming goat. Similarly, when breeding a normal goat and a screaming goat, the baby has 50% chance to be either one of the two sound variants, and when breeding two screaming goats, the baby will always be a screaming variant.

Spawning

Baby animals can be manually spawned by using spawn eggs on a grown animal‌[Java Edition only]​[upcoming BE 26.0]. This also works on zombies or variants. Baby animals may also be spawned using the /summon command with a negative Age tag; for example, using /summon sheep ~ ~ ~ {Age:-100} spawns a baby sheep at the player's position, that matures in 100 ticks (5 seconds). For baby mobs that don't grow up like zombies and piglins, the IsBaby:1 tag is used instead.

picture of two graphs showing grow time relationship of feedings to minutes
Feed graphic for baby animals in Java Edition.

The following mobs have a baby variant, but they cannot breed:

Growing up

Most baby mobs take 20 minutes to grow up. This can be accelerated by feeding them their breeding item. Green sparkles appear similar to those caused by bone meal. In Java Edition, each feeding usually reduces the remaining time before the animal grows up by 10%. The less time remains, the less time is saved by each feeding, making it inefficient to feed an animal continuously until it becomes an adult. After the eighth feeding, the time saved by one feeding is less than a minute, as shown in the graph. In Bedrock Edition, each feeding saves 10% of the total time rather than the remaining time, so no more than ten feedings are needed to age up a single baby.

Horses, donkeys, mules, llamas, and camels have different mechanics: different breeding items grow babies by different amounts, and each item ages babies by a constant time rather than a percentage of the remaining time.

If a baby mob is fed with a golden dandelion, it cannot grow up and will always stay as a baby. However, if the item is used twice, the mob will age.

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3Added baby versions of the chicken, cow, mooshroom, pig, sheep, and wolf.
1.2.112w04aAdded baby cats and ocelots.
12w07aAdded baby villagers.
1.4.212w32aAdded baby zombies and zombie villagers.
1.6.113w16aAdded baby horses, donkeys mules, skeleton horses, and zombie horses.
1.6.2preBaby zombies can now spawn naturally.
releaseBaby zombie pigmen can now spawn naturally.
?Updated the texture of the baby zombie pigman.
1.814w27aAdded baby rabbits.
1.1016w20aAdded baby husks.
1.1116w39aAdded baby llamas.
1.1318w07aAdded baby turtles.
18w10dBaby zombies and zombie villagers now burn in the sun.
18w11aAdded baby drowned.
1.1418w43aAdded baby pandas.
18w50aGiants now use zombie AI so they can be spawned as baby giants.
19w03aReverted the changes made to giants from 18w50a, removing baby giants.
19w05aAdded baby trader llamas.
19w07aAdded baby foxes.
1.1519w34aAdded baby bees.
1.1620w07aAdded baby piglins and hoglins.
20w13aAdded baby striders.
20w14aAdded baby zoglins.
1.1720w51aAdded baby axolotls.
21w13aAdded baby goats.
1.1922w11aAdded tadpoles.
1.19.3
Experiment
Update 1.20		22w42aAdded baby camels.
1.19.4
Experiment
Update 1.20		23w07aAdded snifflets.
1.20.523w51aAdded baby armadillos.
1.21.224w33aAdded baby dolphins, squid, and glow squid.
1.21.625w15aAdded ghastlings.
1.21.1125w41aAdded baby nautiluses.
25w41aAdded baby camel husks. They are only obtainable with commands.
Upcoming Java Edition
26.1snap2Updated the models and textures for baby cats, chickens, cows, mooshrooms, ocelots, pigs, sheep, and wolves.
Baby wolves and baby cats are now referred to as puppies and kittens respectively.
snap4Updated the models for the baby donkeys, horses, mules, skeleton horses, and zombie horses.
snap5Using golden dandelions on baby mobs that aren't monsters or villagers prevents them from aging.
Updated the models and textures for baby axolotls, dolphins, glow squids, squids, and turtles.
snap6Updated the models and textures for baby bees, foxes, goats, camels, armadillos, polar bears, llamas, and trader llamas.
Removed baby camel husks.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.6.0Baby chickens, cows, pigs, and sheep can now spawn naturally.
v0.11.0build 1Added baby zombies and zombie pigmen.
v0.14.0build 1Baby zombies and zombie villagers can now be part of jockeys.
Pocket Edition
1.0.4alpha 1.0.4.0Baby villagers now have larger heads.
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0
Experiment
Experimental Gameplay		beta 1.2.14.2Added baby drowneds.
1.16.0beta 1.16.0.59Baby hoglins now have larger heads.
1.16.100beta 1.16.100.55Baby zoglins now have larger heads.
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
26.0
Experiment
Drop 1 of 2026		Preview 26.0.27Updated the models and textures for baby cats, chickens, cows, mooshrooms, ocelots, pigs, sheep, and wolves.
Baby wolves and baby cats are now referred to as puppies and kittens respectively.
26.10Preview 26.10.20Updated the models and textures for baby axolotls, dolphins, donkeys, horses, mules, skeleton horses, zombie horses, glow squids, squids, and turtles.
Preview 26.10.21Updated the models and textures for baby bees, foxes, goats, camels, armadillos, polar bears, llamas, and trader llamas.

Gallery

Ageable

These baby mobs age naturally.

Non-ageable

These baby mobs do not grow up.

Special cases

In Java Edition, undead horses grow normally,[4] while in Bedrock Edition, they don't,[5] following the same pattern as the other hostile mobs.

References

  1. ↑ a b c Only obtainable through spawn eggs or commands.
  1. ↑ MC-260272 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  2. ↑ a b c d MC-185516 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  3. ↑ MC-158608 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  4. ↑ a b MC-305580 — Baby zombie horses, skeleton horses and camel husks grow into adults, unlike other baby undead mobs
  5. ↑ MCPE-234733 — Baby skeleton horses grow up, unlike baby zombie horses — resolved as "Fixed".

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