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Animal Defenses

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Salma Bazzi
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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
362 views9 pages

Animal Defenses

Uploaded by

Salma Bazzi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Animal Defenses LEVELED BOOK • M

A Reading A–Z Level M Leveled Book


Word Count: 499

Connections
Writing
Create a new animal. Draw a picture of
your animal, name it, and write about
how your animal will defend itself.
Science
Research to learn more about one of
the animals from the book. Create a
poster about the animal to share with

Animal
your class that includes a picture and
interesting facts.

Defenses
Written by Deborah Sussman

Visit www.readinga-z.com
for thousands of books and materials. www.readinga-z.com
Animal blending
Words to Know
predators

Defenses distracts
poison
Photo Credits:
prey
venom

Front cover: © iStock/Freder; title page: © iStock/StefsStuff; page 3: © iStock/


ANDREYGUDKOV; page 4: © Perrine Doug/Perspectives/Getty Images; page 5:
© iStock/kimeveruss; page 6 (left): © iStock/Valerie Loiseleux; page 6 (right):
© iStock/kajornyot; page 7 (top): © Sinclair Stammers/Science Source; page 7
(bottom): © iStock/SumikoPhoto; page 8 (top): © iStock/LenSoMy; page 8
(bottom): © iStock/Snowleopard1; page 9 (left): © Gabriel Barathieu/Biosphoto/
Minden Pictures; pages 9 (right), 11 (left): © Fred Bavendam/Minden Pictures;
page 10 (top): © Thomas Marent/ardea.com; page 10 (bottom left): © iStock/
vovashevchuk; page 10 (bottom right): © iStock/Calleaume; page 11 (right):
© iStock/Nystudio; page 12: © iStock/serengeti130; page 13 (top): © Bruce
Macqueen/Dreamstime; page 13 (bottom): © Ed Reschke/Photolibrary/Getty
Images; page 14 (top): © Dml231/Dreamstime; page 14 (bottom): © Iulian
Gherghel/Dreamstime; page 15 (top left): © iStock/johan63; page 15 (top right):
© iStock/giocalde; page 15 (bottom left): © iStock/SeppFriedhuber; page 15
(bottom right): © Darrell Gulin/Stone/Getty Images

Written by Deborah Sussman


www.readinga-z.com

Focus Question Animal Defenses


Level M Leveled Book Correlation
© Learning A–Z LEVEL M
What are some ways that animals Written by Deborah Sussman
Fountas & Pinnell L
defend themselves? All rights reserved. Reading Recovery
DRA
19
24
www.readinga-z.com
great white shark

yellow land crab

Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Claws, Teeth, Spikes . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Sharp teeth and amazing speed make the great white shark one of the
ocean’s strongest predators.

Animals That Use Venom . . . . . . . 7 Introduction

Animals That Use Poison . . . . . . . 9 In the wild, many animals eat other
animals . These predators are always
Camouflage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
on the hunt for their next meal .
Other Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Their prey, however, don’t just sit
around waiting to be eaten . These
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
animals have developed many ways
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 to defend themselves .
Animal Defenses • Level M 3 4
common house cat hedgehog porcupine

Hedgehogs’ quills (left) protect their bodies but do not come off.
Porcupine quills (right) come off easily, sticking into an enemy’s skin.

Some animals have sharp spikes to


keep predators away . Porcupines are
covered in sharp spikes called quills .
The quills are made of the same
House cats may be sweet pets, but they still have sharp claws for defense. stuff as human hair and fingernails .
Claws, Teeth, Spikes The quills can stick in predators’
skin like needles .
Lions, tigers, and bears have sharp
teeth and claws . Some smaller Hedgehogs also have quills . When
animals, like house cats and hedgehogs are attacked, they roll up
raccoons, also have them . in a ball so all their quills point out .
Animal Defenses • Level M 5 6
Brazilian wandering spider king cobra

honeybee Some snakes have venom . The


venom in the bite of a king cobra is
strong enough to kill an elephant!

Bees, wasps, and some ants also


have venom . All spiders have fangs,
and most spiders have venom, too .

Some animals bite or sting using venom for defense.

Animals That Use Venom


Some animals can hurt or even
kill predators with a bite or a sting .
These animals deliver venom to
black widow spider
defend themselves .
Animal Defenses • Level M 7 8
golden poison frog
puffer fish

One golden poison frog has enough poison to kill ten people.

A puffer fish (left) looks just like any other fish until it puffs out (right)
The golden poison frog is one of
to defend itself.
the most poisonous animals in the
Animals That Use Poison world . It is only about 5 centimeters
Some animals are poisonous . (2 in .) long, but its skin is coated
That means their bodies release with a strong poison .
a dangerous substance when another Venom or Poison?
animal attacks or tries to eat them . Venom and poison are not the same thing. Poison soaks into
the skin, is eaten, or is breathed in. Venom is delivered through
a bite or sting. A scorpion uses venom to defend itself, while
The puffer fish has poison in its a cuttlefish uses poison.
skin, and some puffer fish also have scorpion

spikes to keep enemies away . The


poison tastes bad to other fish, and
cuttlefish
it can be deadly .
Animal Defenses • Level M 9 10
two-tone pygmy squid dead-leaf butterfly zebra

Camouflage is nature’s way of hiding an animal’s location, movement,


and identity in plain sight.

Camouflage
Some animals defend themselves
by using camouflage, or blending
in with the world around them .
Some squid can change their skin
color to hide in the water or to Zebras’ stripes help them camouflage each other in the herd.
confuse predators .
Zebras are black with white stripes
Some insects are the same color as and travel in groups . Their predators
the leaves or branches they live on . have trouble seeing where one zebra
For example, the dead-leaf butterfly ends and another one begins . This
really looks like a dead leaf when its makes it more difficult for predators
wings are closed . such as lions to hunt zebras .
Animal Defenses • Level M 11 12
Other Defenses

opossum Most predators


catch live prey, green anole lizard

so some animals
defend themselves
by playing dead .
The opossum is
famous for playing
dead when it is afraid .
It can take up to sixty days for a green anole’s tail to grow back.

If a hognose snake is attacked, it Some animals, like deer, defend


puffs up and hisses just like a cobra . themselves by being faster than
If that fails, it rolls onto its back and the predators that hunt them .
releases a stinky liquid . When it
does, it looks and smells dead . Other animals defend themselves
by leaving body parts behind .
hognose snake
Many lizards lose their tails when
attacked . This distracts predators
and makes it easier for the lizards
to run quickly . Some lizards can
even grow their tails back later!
Animal Defenses • Level M 13 14
red hartebeest crawfish
Glossary
blending becoming hard to notice
(v.) because of a likeness to one’s
surroundings (p . 11)

distracts keeps from paying full


(v.) attention to something;
causes to pay attention
to something else (p . 14)

poison (n.) a harmful or deadly


substance that enters the
body through the skin or by
being eaten or inhaled (p . 9)

predators animals that hunt and eat


arctic fox brown bear (n.) other animals to survive
(p . 4)
Conclusion
prey (n.) animals that are hunted and
Predators and prey are both eaten by predators (p . 4)
necessary in the wild . Both add to venom (n.) a harmful or deadly
the balance of the natural world . substance that usually enters
Different types of defenses give all the body through a bite or
animals a fighting chance . sting (p . 7)

Animal Defenses • Level M 15 16

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