Higher order algebroids are generalizations of higher order tangent bundles and Lie algebroids at the same time. They appear naturally in the context of geometric mechanics when higher order derivatives and symmetry are in the game. In the approach of M. Jóźwikowski and M. Rotkiewicz they are introduced by means of a vector bundle comorphism of a special kind. Natural examples come from reductions of higher order tangent bundles of groupoids. I will explain the algebraic structure staying behind higher order Lie algebroids, at least in order two. It turned out that they lead to representations up to homotopy of Lie algebroids, a fundamental notion in the theory of algebroids discovered by C. A. Abad and M. Crainic.