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TEST33 The Natural World Encyclopaedia ANIMAL HOMES Animals need a home—somewhere to shelter or breed that is safe from predators. They have different ways of creating a home that suits their needs. Burrows Fossorial animals such as rabbits and platypuses spend much of their life in a burrow. Many such animals obtain their food underground from plant roots, worms, grubs and the larvae of insects. An unusual burrowing animal is the pupfish, which lives in ponds and marshes in the deserts of North America. During the winter, the pupfish will burrow into the muddy bottom of the waterway and lay dormant until the weather warms up and it can breed. Hollow Logs Both dead and living trees are used for shelter by animals such as goannas, possums and cockatoos. Owls use them for roosting during the day. Many other animals, such as numbats, live in hollow logs on the ground. Animals that rely on such habitats may become endangered due to land clearing and housing developments. Nests Animals such as birds build nests made of twigs, leaves and grass, both above and on the ground. They are usually held together with mud or saliva. Bowerbirds decorate their terrestrial nests with blue items to attract a mate. Crocodiles build their nests from rotting vegetation so as to help incubate their eggs. Shells Crustaceans, such as crabs and lobsters, have a shell-like skeleton on the outside of their body for protection against predators. Hermit crabs also carry an extra shell around with them so they can hide. As a hermit crab grows, it will reject its old shell and find a larger one. However, animals such as the snail keep the same shell for their entire life. As the snail grows, so does its shell. It can even repair small cracks and holes. Text sourced from: Targeting Text Interactively Read the text and shade a bubble or write an answer to each question. 1 What is an encyclopaedia? 2 Where can you find encyclopaedias? in school libraries in public libraries on the internet all of the above 3 What is the name of the encyclopaedia above? 4 Which of the following entries would you NOT expect to find in this encyclopaedia? plant photosynthesis the life cycle of butterflies jet engines rocks and minerals 5 What are fossorial animals? 6 When does the pupfish breed? 7 Owls roost during the day. This means owls are: nocturnal extinct diurnal (awake during the day) endangered 8 How do housing developments endanger animals? by spreading diseases residents hunt and eat the animals by cutting down the trees they live in by increasing the greenhouse effect 9 What does 'terrestrial' mean? in a tree underground on the ground on the water 10 What do bowerbirds' nests look like? messy rotting bright and colourful nobody has ever seen one 11 Where would you find a crustacean's skeleton? 12 What might happen to a hermit crab if it could not find a bigger shell?