Week 8_Tarantula_Book_3A_40 copies.pdf

Tarantula! LEVELED BOOK K A Reading A–Z Level K Leveled Book Word Count: 401 Tarantula! Written by Terri Patterson Visit www.readinga-z.com www.readin...

Tarantula! LEVELED BOOK K A Reading A–Z Level K Leveled Book Word Count: 401 Tarantula! Written by Terri Patterson Visit www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. fangs (n.) Glossary long, sharp, and Tarantula! sometimes hollow teeth (p. 4) harmless (adj.) not dangerous (p. 14) prey (n.) an animal that is hunted and eaten by a predator (p. 11) sense (v.) to receive information about the world through sight, touch, taste, smell, or hearing (p. 7) spider (n.) an animal with eight legs that can spin a web (p. 4) venom (n.) a poisonous fluid that some animals use to kill prey and defend themselves, usually Written by Terri Patterson delivered by biting or stinging (p. 11) www.readinga-z.com 16 Photo Credits: Front cover, back cover: © ifong/123RF; title page: © Andy Teare/ardea.com; page 3: © ARCO/C. Steimer/age fotostock; page 4: © AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS SERVICE/MELBOURNE MUSEUM/AP Images; page 5: © Animals Animals/Superstock; page 6: © Mark Moffett/Minden Pictures/National Geographic Stock; page 7 (main): © Corbis/Superstock; page 7 (inset): © Simon D. Pollard/Photo Researchers, Inc.; page 8: © Andrey Zvoznikov/ardea.com; page 9: © reddz/123RF; page 10: © Juniors/Superstock; page 11: © ARCO/P. Wegner/age fotostock; page 12: © Photoshot Holdings Ltd/Alamy; page 13: © Minden Pictures/Superstock; page 14: © Science Photo Library/Superstock; page 15: © Michael D. Kern/Minden Pictures Front Cover: Mexican red-knee tarantula Title Page: Goliath bird-eating spider Do You Know? An adult tarantula can live up to thirty years. Females live much longer than males. This tiger-rump doppleganger tarantula lives in the rainforests of Costa Rica. People are a bigger danger to Tarantula! tarantulas than any other threat. Level K Leveled Book Correlation © Learning A–Z LEVEL K These amazing spiders are Written by Terri Patterson All rights reserved. Fountas & Pinnell Reading Recovery J 17 important to the balance of nature. www.readinga-z.com DRA 18 They deserve to be protected. Tarantula! Level K 15  How Safe Are Tarantulas? Many people are scared of tarantulas because they are so big. Tarantulas are harmless if you leave them alone. Some tarantulas are slow and calm. Others are fast and looking for a fight, so don’t mess Baboon spider with them! Do You Know? Many people keep tarantulas as pets. Certain kinds are Table of Contents safe if you learn how to handle them. Introduction................... 4 Where Tarantulas Live.......... 5 Hard, Hairy Bodies............. 6 Eating and Being Eaten........ 10 How Safe Are Tarantulas?...... 14 Glossary..................... 16 14 Tarantula! Level K 3  Introduction What’s huge and hairy, and has fangs that can kill? It’s the biggest spider in the world—the tarantula! Goliath bird-eating spider A tarantula hawk gets ready to attack a tarantula. You might think tarantulas are too big to be hunted. Not true! The tarantula hawk—a big wasp—hunts tarantulas as food for its young. A female wasp stings a tarantula, which then stops moving. The wasp Do You Know? lays one egg on the tarantula’s body. There are at least eight hundred different kinds of tarantulas. The biggest kind can grow up to 12 inches When the young insect comes out, (30 cm) long! it feeds on the tarantula. 4 Tarantula! Level K 13 The tarantula drags the animal Where Tarantulas Live back home. It uses its jaws and little Tarantulas live in warm places arms to cut up the animal. It spits around the world. Many live in juices onto the pieces, which turn forests, and others live in deserts. to mush. Then the tarantula sucks More than fifty kinds of tarantulas up a tasty meal. live in the United States. Some tarantulas live in holes in the Do You Know? Tarantula fangs can measure up to one-half inch (more ground. Others live under logs or than 1 cm) long. Tarantula venom is not usually deadly to humans, but a tarantula bite can hurt a lot and get infected. in trees. If you are allergic to the venom, it can be deadly. Greenbottle blue tarantula Do You Know? Some tarantulas are black or brown, but many others are colorful. They may be red, orange, yellow, pink, blue, purple, or other colors. Some have colorful stripes or other markings on their legs or bodies. 12 Tarantula! Level K 5  old skin tarantula This Ecuadorian brown velvet tarantula is molting, or pushing out of its old skin. Hard, Hairy Bodies Like insects and other spiders, A tarantula stabs a grasshopper with its fangs. tarantulas have a hard covering To catch prey, a tarantula sits very on their body. As they grow, the still and waits. When an animal covering gets too tight and splits comes near, the tarantula jumps down the middle. After a tarantula and jabs its fangs into it. Venom pushes out of the old skin, its new shoots into the animal and makes skin gets hard. it stop moving. 6 Tarantula! Level K 11  bald patch This desert blond tarantula has a bald patch where it kicked off some stiff hairs to sting an enemy. The hairs will grow back again after the tarantula molts. A grasshopper is a delicious meal for a Mexican red-leg tarantula. A tarantula is covered with hairs. The hairs sense heat, cold, and Eating and Being Eaten things that move. Other hairs near Tarantulas rest during the day and its mouth help a tarantula taste come out at night to hunt. They eat and smell. Stiff hairs with points insects, frogs, lizards, bats, mice, grow on its stomach and back. and small snakes. They also eat A tarantula can sting enemies spiders—even other tarantulas. with these hairs. 10 Tarantula! Level K 7 The legs of a tarantula have little Do You Know? claws with hairs. The hairs help the Tarantulas do not weave webs, but they make silk. Tarantulas that live in holes underground cover the walls tarantula hold on when it climbs. with silk. Tarantulas that live in trees use silk to make “tents” or tunnels. Two little arms near its mouth have sharp parts. The tarantula holds and cuts food with them. small arms Do You Know? jaws with fangs Tarantulas have eight eyes—two big ones and six small ones. Even with eight eyes, they cannot see very well. They only see light, dark, and movement. eyes head and upper body section abdomen silk glands 8 Tarantula! Level K 9