No Longer Just Scaled-Down Adults
Mojang has announced new baby mob designs now entering testing for Minecraft. With this update, eight different farm animal babies are being completely redesigned from scratch.
Until now, baby mobs in Minecraft were simply scaled-down versions of adult models with oversized heads. The new update gives each baby mob its own unique textures and models. According to Game Director Agnes Larsson, this change brings an entirely new personality to baby mobs. For example, while adult mobs have two-pixel eyes, the new baby designs feature single-pixel eyes.
The redesigned animals include wolf pups, kittens, piglets, calves, baby chickens, baby ocelots, lambs, and baby rabbits.
Which Animals Changed?
Here’s the full breakdown of the redesigned baby mobs:
Wolf pups: All nine variants now feature a chunkier design. They can be found across different biomes and tamed with bones.
Kittens: All eleven cat variants have been updated. They spawn in villages and swamp huts and can be tamed with raw cod or salmon.
Baby chickens: Among the game’s smallest baby mobs. Three variants exist for cold, temperate, and warm biomes.
Rabbits: Both baby and adult rabbits received fluffier tails and fur.
Piglets: Three variants are available—fluffy ones in cold biomes, brown-coated in warm biomes, and the classic pink in temperate biomes.
Lambs: Eleven different colored lambs now look like tiny puffs of wool with legs.
Calves: Five calf variants graze across different pastures based on their native climate.
Baby ocelots: Found in jungle biomes, baby ocelots have been redesigned with big green eyes and tiny blocky paws.
Name Tags Are Now Craftable
Good news for those wanting to name all these adorable babies: Name tags can now be crafted using paper and any metal nugget. Recent updates have been making previously rare items more accessible in Minecraft. It remains to be seen where this trend leads.
Java Feature Comes to Bedrock
Another feature has been ported from Java Edition to Bedrock Edition: Spawn eggs can now be used on adult mobs to spawn their baby versions.
These features are available for testing in Java Edition snapshots and Bedrock Edition beta/preview. Mojang is actively seeking player feedback.
A valid question is circulating within the Minecraft community: With so much content that could be added to the game, were baby mob designs really the priority? Mojang may need to reconsider this “small but cute” update strategy. As players, we’re hoping for more substantial content updates.