Animals, Vocabulary Worksheets

PRECIOUS PANGOLINS – Nature Vocabulary Worksheet

A pangolin walks across flat stony ground

A) Before you start reading, match these words with their definitions.

1. quirkya) to search for food
2. scalesb) a group of babies born at the same time to the same mother
3. snoutc) to tear something
4. to seald) a little strange
5. broode) to close tightly
6. to ripf) to hunt illegally
7. to forageg) the long protruding nose of some animals, eg. pigs, bears and most dogs
8. to poachh) small thin plates covering fish and reptiles’ bodies

PRECIOUS PANGOLINS

B) Fill the gaps with these words:

bark, bears, claws, deter, forest, horns, insatiable, native, offspring, phenomenally, role, swallow

Pangolins are shy and quirky-looking creatures. They are unique in that they are the only mammals with scales.

These scales are made of keratin, the same substance found in hair, fingernails, and a) __________. Thanks to their appearance, behaviour, and diet, pangolins are sometimes known as scaly anteaters. 

Yet, despite their appearance, pangolins are actually more closely related to carnivores such as dogs and b) __________. It’s strange when you consider that pangolins don’t have teeth!

There are eight different kinds of pangolin, including the black-bellied pangolin and the Sunda pangolin. Four species are c) __________ to Asia and four to Africa.

Depending on their species, they are found in a wide variety of habitats from tropical d) __________ to savannah or desert. Most live on the ground but some are tree-dwelling.

These solitary, and generally nocturnal creatures have a long slender snout and a e) __________ long tongue. Fully stretched, it’s about forty centimetres long! The tongue is narrow and sticky, perfect for slurping up insects from tunnels and hard-to-reach places. 

Their strong f) __________ allow them to rip into ant and termite mounds or to tear g) __________ off trees.

Since they don’t have teeth, pangolins h) __________ insects whole. They ingest stones and they also have spines inside their stomach which help to break down their food.

Pangolins play a vital ecological i) __________ in that they help to keep down ant and termite populations. This is why they are known as guardians of the forest. It is estimated that, thanks to their j) __________ appetite, pangolins can polish off seven million insects a year!

To protect them while they are foraging, pangolins have strong muscles which help to seal shut their nostrils and ears so that the ants and termites can’t bite them.

When threatened pangolins behave like armadillos and hedgehogs – they roll up into a tight ball. Their hard scales act like a suit of armour, protecting their head and soft belly. This is in fact how pangolins got their name –  ‘pengguling’ in Malay means ‘something that rolls up’. 

This defensive ball can k) __________ predators as formidable as lions, but unfortunately, it’s this very posture that makes them so easily caught by humans who can just pick them up.

Pangolins don’t have big broods. African pangolins usually give birth to just one pup, whilst Asian pangolins only have one to three l) __________. When they are born the pangopups have soft scales which soon harden. The mothers will curl around their young to protect them while they are sleeping or if they sense danger.

Not so fun facts

Tragically, these gentle and fascinating creatures face immense threats to their survival such as poaching and habitat loss. 

They are regarded as the most trafficked mammal in the world, due to a high demand for their meat and scales. 

In some areas of Asia, pangolin meat is regarded as a delicacy and pangolin scales are used in traditional medicine, despite the fact that, as with rhino horn, there is no scientific evidence of health benefits. 

All eight species are listed as threatened with extinction, two are critically endangered.

Pangolin rolled into a tight ball. Stony ground.




Answers

Exercise A

1 d)
2 h)
3 g)
4 e)
5 b)
6 c)
7 a)
8 f)

Exercise B

a) horns
b) bears
c) native
d) forest
e) phenomenally
f) claws
g) bark
h) swallow
i) role
j) insatiable
k) deter
l) offspring

If you’d like a printable version of Precious Pangolins, see link at the top.


Find out more about pangolins and why we should care about their fate

A Pangolin’s Tale

National Geographic


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Animals, Vocabulary Worksheets

SPLENDID SLOTHS – Vocabulary and ‘Slow’ Idioms Worksheet

Sloth climbing tree

Javier Mazzeo, @Unsplash


A) FUN FACTS

Fill the gaps with the following words:

belief, benefit, detection, hooked, lungs, mammal, moths, swivel, tinge, tropical, vulnerable, weigh     

Sloths have been around for over sixty million years, and until ten thousand years ago there was also even a giant sloth. These super-sized sloths called Megatherium could grow to the size of an elephant and a) __________ up to four tonnes!

Today sloths are found in the b) __________ forests of Central and South America. There are six species, two species are two-toed, and four are three-toed. Curiously though, it’s the number of claws on the forelimbs that is different, as all the species have three ‘toes’ on their back legs. So perhaps we should call them two-fingered and three-fingered sloths!

Sloths are named for their extreme slowness. The pygmy three-toed sloth is in fact the slowest c) _________ in the world, moving at a speed of only 0.24 km/h.

Contrary to popular d) __________, however, sloths aren’t lazy. Their slow-paced lifestyle is a vital part of their survival kit as it helps them conserve valuable energy. Another bonus of moving so slowly is that it helps them avoid e) __________ by formidable predators such as jaguars and harpy eagles who hunt using sight.

Not only are sloths slowcoaches, but their digestion is also very slow – it can take weeks to digest just one leaf!

You may have noticed that sloths often seem to have green fur. This green f) __________ comes from algae. It turns out that a sloth’s shaggy coat is quite the ecosystem – providing a home not only to algae, but also to fungi, g) __________, and other insects. In return, the green colour lends the sloths camouflage, helping them blend into the canopy. Sloths may also h) __________ by snacking on the algae or other inhabitants in their fur.

Thanks to their anatomical design, sloths are adept at hanging upside down. Organs such as the liver, stomach and bowel are attached to their rib cage which prevents them from squashing the animal’s i) __________ and impeding breathing. Their strong j) __________ claws allow them to latch onto branches securely and even to sleep suspended from the trees.

Another design attribute allows three-toed sloths to k) __________ their heads 270 degrees like owls, which may come in handy for keeping an eye out for predators.

Sloths are very cumbersome on the ground as they have little power in their hind legs.  However, they are actually pretty strong swimmers and can even hold their breath underwater for forty minutes!

Sloths may be slow but they are three times as strong as humans. They can lift their whole body upwards using just one arm!

Sloths only come down from trees in order to poop, which they do about once a week. They are extremely l) __________ to predators when they are on the ground and so will even give birth up in the trees!

B) Idioms with SLOW

Complete the idioms with one of the words in brackets.

1.  The government was criticised for being slow off the _________ in helping its citizens affected by the hurricane. They should have acted faster.  (line, mark, step)

2.  Maybe I’m slow on the __________take but I found the plot of the film really confusing at times. Didn’t you? (off, on, up)

3.  The book was slow __________ at first but then it started to get a lot more interesting. (go, going, gone)

4.  Come on, slow__________, hurry up and have your breakfast or you’re going to be late for school. (bus, car, coach)

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Fascinating Sharks: Vocabulary Worksheet with Fish Idioms

(Whale shark. Photo by Sebastian Pena Lambarri, Unsplash)


🖨 Scroll down for printable PDF version

A) FUN FACTS ABOUT SHARKS 🦈

PDF Printable – Fascinating-Sharks-Vocabulary-and-Idioms-Worksheet

Fill the gaps with these words:

diverse, fabrics, fearsome, flexible, kingdom, length, marine, prey, rough, rows, survived

Did you know that sharks are older than trees! They have been on our planet for around 450 million years and have a)_______________ several mass extinctions.

Unlike most fish, sharks have a skeleton made of cartilage and not bone. Cartilage is lighter than bone and much more b)_______________, which allows sharks to be more efficient swimmers. 

Whale sharks, which are the largest fish on earth, have huge mouths and about 300 c)_______________ of teeth, but these majestic creatures are docile and feed mostly on plankton.

Not all sharks are massive though. In fact they come in all sizes – the dwarf lanternshark is about the d)_______________ of a pencil!

Sharks have small tooth-shaped ‘scales’ on their skin known as dermal denticles. This is why their skin feels e)_______________ like sandpaper if you were to stroke them from tail to head. These ‘scales’ reduce friction allowing them to swim faster and in fact have inspired f) _______________ for Olympic swimsuits!

Sharks never run out of teeth. When they lose a tooth, it is replaced by a tooth from the row behind. They can go through thousands of teeth in a lifetime.

Sharks have a phenomenal sense of smell, one of the most powerful in the animal g) _______________. They can smell blood from hundreds of metres away.

They are also equipped with special sensory organs which allow them to detect electrical currents and vibrations in the water.  This gives them several advantages as hunters. For instance, it can help them detect the heartbeat of h)__________________ hiding under sand.

Not only are sharks fascinating creatures, but they have been a vital part of i)_______________ ecosystems for millions of years. One very important role they play is keeping other animal populations in check (= preventing them from expanding too much). This helps to ensure j)_______________ oceanic life.

Sharks have a k)_______________ reputation thanks in part to movies such as “Jaws” but most shark species are harmless, to humans at least. You are far more likely to be killed by a lightning strike, a bee or even a cow!


Not so fun fact

Alarmingly, shark populations have plummeted by 70% in just the last fifty years, mostly as a result of overfishing, bycatch* and shark finning. 100 million sharks are killed every year.

*Bycatch: the marine creatures caught unintentionally in commercial fishing operations

B) FISH IDIOMS

1. Karla is very nervous about her first public concert. It’s one thing to sing in front of friends and family but singing in front of a big crowd is a different __________ (bucket, kettle, pan) of fish

2. People were packed like __________ (cod, sardines, tuna) in the train so we decided not to get on and to wait for the next train.

3. I wouldn’t talk to the boss today about organising the office party. He’s got __________ (bigger, busier, grander) fish to fry (= more important things to do)

4. Harold needed money fast so he went to a loan __________ (leech, shark, squid) and now he has to pay it all back in a week with 400% interest!



Answers

A) a) survived b) flexible c) rows d) length e) rough f) fabrics
g) kingdom h) prey i) marine j) diverse k) fearsome

B) 1. kettle 2. sardines 3. bigger 4. shark

a different kettle of fish – a completely different situation

If people are packed (in) like sardines there are so many people in a space that it is difficult for them to move

If someone has bigger fish to fry, they have more important things to do

a loan shark is an illegal and sometimes dangerous lender

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Idioms with ‘Make’  Exercise 1  Exercise 2

Idioms with ‘Take’  Exercise 1

Idioms with ‘Keep’  Exercise 1

Idioms with ‘Think’  Exercise 1