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Animal Defenses A Reading A–Z Level M Leveled Book

Word Count: 499

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 your class that includes a picture and interesting facts.

Connections

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LEVELED BOOK • M

Written by Deborah Sussman

Animal Defenses

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What are some ways that animals defend themselves?

Focus Question

Written by Deborah Sussman

Animal Defenses

Photo Credits: 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

Words to Know

blendingdistractspoison

predatorspreyvenom

CorrelationLEVEL M

L1924

Fountas & PinnellReading Recovery

DRA

Animal DefensesLevel M Leveled Book© Learning A–ZWritten by Deborah Sussman

All rights reserved.

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3

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Claws, Teeth, Spikes . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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

Animals That Use Poison . . . . . . . 9

Camouflage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Other Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

yellow land crab

Animal Defenses • Level M 4

Introduction

In the wild, many animals eat other animals . These predators are always on the hunt for their next meal . Their prey, however, don’t just sit around waiting to be eaten . These animals have developed many ways to defend themselves .

great white shark

Sharp teeth and amazing speed make the great white shark one of the ocean’s strongest predators.

5

Claws, Teeth, Spikes

Lions, tigers, and bears have sharp teeth and claws . Some smaller animals, like house cats and raccoons, also have them .

common house cat

House cats may be sweet pets, but they still have sharp claws for defense.

Animal Defenses • Level M 6

Some animals have sharp spikes to keep predators away . Porcupines are covered in sharp spikes called quills . The quills are made of the same stuff as human hair and fingernails . The quills can stick in predators’ skin like needles .

Hedgehogs also have quills . When hedgehogs are attacked, they roll up in a ball so all their quills point out .

porcupinehedgehog

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

7

Animals That Use Venom

Some animals can hurt or even kill predators with a bite or a sting . These animals deliver venom to defend themselves .

Brazilian wandering spider

honeybee

Some animals bite or sting using venom for defense.

Animal Defenses • Level M 8

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 .

king cobra

black widow spider

9

Animals That Use Poison

Some animals are poisonous . That means their bodies release a dangerous substance when another animal attacks or tries to eat them .

The puffer fish has poison in its skin, and some puffer fish also have spikes to keep enemies away . The poison tastes bad to other fish, and it can be deadly .

puffer fish

A puffer fish (left) looks just like any other fish until it puffs out (right) to defend itself.

Animal Defenses • Level M 10

Venom or Poison?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 a cuttlefish uses poison.

The golden poison frog is one of the most poisonous animals in the world . It is only about 5 centimeters (2 in .) long, but its skin is coated with a strong poison .

golden poison frog

cuttlefish

scorpion

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

11

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 confuse predators .

Some insects are the same color as the leaves or branches they live on . For example, the dead-leaf butterfly really looks like a dead leaf when its wings are closed .

dead-leaf butterflytwo-tone pygmy squid

Camouflage is nature’s way of hiding an animal’s location, movement, and identity in plain sight.

Animal Defenses • Level M 12

Zebras are black with white stripes and travel in groups . Their predators have trouble seeing where one zebra ends and another one begins . This makes it more difficult for predators such as lions to hunt zebras .

zebra

Zebras’ stripes help them camouflage each other in the herd.

13

Other Defenses

Most predators catch live prey, so some animals defend themselves by playing dead . The opossum is famous for playing

dead when it is afraid .

If a hognose snake is attacked, it puffs up and hisses just like a cobra . If that fails, it rolls onto its back and releases a stinky liquid . When it does, it looks and smells dead .

hognose snake

opossum

Animal Defenses • Level M 14

Some animals, like deer, defend themselves by being faster than the predators that hunt them .

Other animals defend themselves by leaving body parts behind . 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!

green anole lizard

It can take up to sixty days for a green anole’s tail to grow back.

15

Conclusion

Predators and prey are both necessary in the wild . Both add to the balance of the natural world . Different types of defenses give all animals a fighting chance .

red hartebeest

arctic fox brown bear

crawfish

Animal Defenses • Level M 16

Glossary blending (v.)

becoming hard to notice because of a likeness to one’s surroundings (p . 11)

distracts (v.)

keeps from paying full 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 (n.)

animals that hunt and eat other animals to survive (p . 4)

prey (n.) animals that are hunted and eaten by predators (p . 4)

venom (n.) a harmful or deadly substance that usually enters the body through a bite or sting (p . 7)