Right Tools for the Job The
Written by Sarah O’Neil
The Right Tools for the Job Text type: Explanation Level: L (24) Word count: 697 Content vocabulary acid anteater/s ants beak beavers blood claws eyesight fangs flowers giraffe gnaw grasshopper hovering hummingbird/s hyena/s insects leaves nectar poison prey scavengers snouts spiders stomach sucking survive teeth termites thorns tongue/s tool/s turkey vultures vampire bats
The Right Tools for the Job
Curriculum link • Science: Living things – animals: structure, and function Key concepts • Some animals eat food that is difficult to reach, collect, or get to. • These animals have the right body parts to get the foods they need. Reading strategy • Reading and interpreting a summary chart Paired book Arnold Saves the Day © 2010-2015 EC Licensing Pty Ltd. This work is protected by US copyright law, and under international copyright conventions, applicable in the jurisdictions in which it is published. All rights reserved. The trademark “Flying Start to Literacy” and Star device is a registered trademark of EC Licensing Pty Ltd in the US. Purchasers of this book may have certain rights under applicable copyright law to copy parts of this book. Purchasers must make the necessary enquiries to ascertain whether and to what extent they have any such right in the jurisdiction in which they will be using the book. Photographs on pages 2 (bottom right circle) © Loretta Hostettler, 1, 5 (top right circle), 7 (top right circle) and 10 (top circle), all from iStockphoto.com; page 7 © Oxford Scientific Films/AUSCAPE; cover (top left), pages 2 (top circle), 22 (bottom), 24 (left circle) © Yanik Chauvin, 2 (bottom left circle) and cover (2nd image) © Cathy Keifer, 6 (top) © George Bailey, 8 © Appleimages, 10 © Malani Oconnor, 11 © Celso Diniz, 12 (top) © Bidouze Stéphane, 13 (bottom), 23 (2nd photo) © Michael Lynch, 14 © Cathy Keifer, 15 © Tiaw Leong, 18 (top) © Paul Wolf, 19, 23 (4th photo) © Dave Willman, 20 © Senai Aksoy, 23 (top) © Trevor Allen, 22 (middle), and 24 (top right circle) © Vchphoto, all from Dreamstime; pages 12 and 16 © 2009 Jupiter Images Corporation, from Photos.com; cover (3rd left), pages 5 (bottom and left circle), 13 (top), 17, 24 (bottom circle) and 23 (3rd image) all from Photolibrary; cover (bottom image) © André Gonçalves, and 22 (top ) © Jason Kasumovic, all from Shutterstock.
Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing Designed by Derek Schneider Printed and bound in China through Colorcraft Ltd, Hong Kong Distributed in the USA by Okapi Educational Publishing Inc. Phone: 866-652-7436 Fax: 800-481-5499 Email: info@myokapi.com www.myokapi.com www.flying-start-to-literacy.com ISBN: 978-1-74234-616-8 7 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 19
okapi educational publishing
Written by Sarah O’Neil
Contents Introduction
5
Chapter 1: Animals that eat plants
6
Beavers
7
Giraffes
8
Hummingbirds 10 Chapter 2: Animals that eat meat 12
Vampire bats
13
Spiders
14
16
Anteaters
Chapter 3: Animal scavengers
18
19
Turkey vultures
Hyenas
20
Chapter 4: The right tools for the job
22
Conclusion 24
Introduction All animals need food to survive. Getting food is not always easy, but animals have the body parts they need to get food and to eat it. They use these body parts as tools. 5
Chapter 1
Animals that eat plants
Beavers Beavers eat the bark from trees. They also eat grass and leaves. They have long, sharp front teeth that help them gnaw through the hard bark on small trees. As they gnaw through the bark, their teeth get worn down. A beaver’s teeth never stop growing.
Many animals eat plants. Some eat leaves, others eat fruit and seeds. Some animals eat the wood and bark from plants. But some plants can be hard to eat and hard to
A beaver can cut down more than 250 trees in a year.
reach. The animals that eat them have the right body parts to help them. 6
7
Giraffes Giraffes eat leaves that grow on tall trees. These leaves are high above the ground. Giraffes have long necks that help them reach these leaves. Giraffes often eat leaves that have long, sharp thorns. These thorns keep many animals from eating the leaves. Giraffes move their tongues around the thorns and eat the soft leaves without getting pricked by the thorns.
8
9
Hummingbirds Hummingbirds eat nectar from flowers. The nectar is in the center of a flower. A hummingbird has a long, thin beak and a long, grooved tongue
Hummingbirds are the only birds that can hover.
that it puts into a flower. The nectar sticks to its grooved tongue.
Hummingbirds beat their wings more than 200 times per second. When they beat their wings this fast, they can stay in the one place in the air without falling. This is called hovering. Hummingbirds need to hover above flowers to get the nectar. 10
11
Chapter 2
Animals that eat meat
Vampire bats Vampire bats drink the blood of animals such as cows, pigs, horses, and birds. Vampire bats have sensors in their noses. The sensors help the bats find where the blood is closest to an animal’s skin. Vampire bats bite a small hole in the animal’s skin and then drink its blood.
Many animals catch and eat other animals. The animals they catch and eat are called prey. Some animals are hard to catch and eat. Animals that hunt prey have the body parts they need to catch and eat their food. 12
13
Spiders Spiders eat insects and other small
Spiders do not have teeth, so they cannot bite or chew their food.
animals. When a spider catches its prey,
Spiders eat by sucking out the liquids
it uses its fangs to put poison into the
in the bodies of the animals they catch.
animal. The poison either kills the
They do not eat the hard, outer shells.
animal or stops it from moving while the spider eats it.
14
15
Anteaters Anteaters cannot see very well but they have a very good sense of smell.
Anteaters eat up to 20,000 ants every day.
This helps them to find the ants and termites that they eat. Anteaters use their strong front legs and long, sharp claws to break open ant or termite nests.
When the nest is open, anteaters stick their long, thin snouts inside and lick up ants or termites with their long, sticky tongues. Anteaters do not have teeth, so they swallow ants whole. 16
17
Chapter 3
Animal scavengers
Turkey vultures Turkey vultures are scavengers. They eat animals that have died, but they have to find them first. Turkey vultures have large wings. They use their wings to glide high above the ground looking for food. They also have good eyesight and a good sense of smell. This helps them find their food from the air.
Some animals are scavengers. Scavengers are animals that eat food that is already dead. They have the right body parts to find this food and to eat it. 18
Turkey vultures are one of the few birds that have a good sense of smell. 19
Hyenas Hyenas are scavengers, too. They often eat animals that have died.
Hyenas have a strong acid in their stomachs. This means that they can eat every part of another animal including the skin, teeth, horns, and bones.
Hyenas have very strong jaws and teeth. They use their teeth to break an animal’s body into smaller pieces.
20
21
Chapter 4
The right tools for the job
Animal
Food
Tools
Spider
insects
•
fangs with poison
Vampire bat
blood
•
sensors sharp teeth
Anteater
ants, termites
Animals have the body parts they need to catch and eat food. These are the right tools for the job.
Animal
Food
Tools
Beaver
bark, leaves, and grass
•
•
teeth • • •
Giraffe
leaves
• •
Hummingbird
nectar from flowers
•
•
•
22
long neck long tongue
long, thin beak grooved tongue fast-beating wings
Turkey vulture
dead animals
• •
•
Hyena
dead animals
•
•
sharp claws long snout sticky tongue strong wings g ood sense of smell good eyesight strong jaws and teeth acid in its stomach 23
FLYING START TO LITERACY EARLY EMERGENT STAGE
EMERGENT STAGE
EARLY STAGE
TRANSITIONAL EARLY FLUENT STAGE STAGE CHAPTER BOOKS
FLUENT STAGE CHAPTER BOOKS
FLUENT PLUS STAGE CHAPTER BOOKS
Level A Level B Level C Level D Level E Level F Level G Level H Level I Level J Level K Level L Level M Level N Level O Level P (1) (2) (3-4) (6) (8) (10) (12) (14) (16) (18) (20) (24) (28) (30) (34) (38)
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Animal Show-offs
The Too-tight Tutu
Amazing Gardens
The Giant's Garden
Polar Bears
A Bear Called Trouble
Surviving the Flood
The Great Flood of Dusty Plains
A Long Day at the River
The Crocodile and the Plover
Looking After Tide Pools
The Smart Little Crab
Driver Ants
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ways of getting food.
The Right Tools for the Job
Arnold Saves the Day
The First Flight
The Balloon Adventure
Each animal has the
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Polar Bears and the Arctic Sea Ice
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catch, and eat food.
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Frost
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Living in Space
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Marathon Journal
The Marathon Man
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24
Basketball Basics
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