Giant Anteaters

Objectives:

• Students will be able to describe the physical characteristics of anteaters.

• Students will be able to identify the behavioral characteristics of anteaters.

Suggested Grades:

3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension worksheet passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

As you can probably guess, giant anteaters are animals that eat ants! They also eat termites as well as fruits that have fallen from trees. You can identify giant anteaters by their long thin snouts, which they use to dig into ant mounds to retrieve their favorite food. Giant anteaters are found throughout Central and South America. They are the size of large dogs and they have bushy, thick hair that makes them look even bigger than they are. Giant anteaters also have big, bushy tails that they use to cover themselves so they can keep warm in cold weather.

Giant anteaters have heads that look like long tubes. They have tiny black eyes and small noses at the end of their long snouts. They are truly unique looking animals! Anteaters shuffle along on their four fists with their claws curled up and their snouts to the ground. They keep their claws retracted so they will stay sharp until the anteater needs them to dig into a mound of ants.

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