Meet the Humpback Whale: Grade 3 Reading Comprehension

The humpback whale is a mammal. It lives in oceans all around the world. This place is deep and salty.

The humpback whale eats krill and small fish. It travels thousands of kilometers each year between cold feeding waters and warm waters where calves are born.

The humpback whale has baleen plates instead of teeth. These strain tiny animals out of huge gulps of seawater. It is about 16 meters long.

Baby humpback whales are called calves. A newborn calf drinks its mother's milk and can gain about 45 kilograms a day.

Questions

Details Where does the humpback whale live?
deserts, grasslands and forests on every continent except Antarctica eucalyptus forests in eastern Australia oceans all around the world gardens, hedges and woodland across the UK, Ireland and Europe
Details Which of these does the humpback whale eat?
pollen sedges krill shrubs
Cause and effect According to the passage, how does the humpback whale use baleen plates instead of teeth?
They protect it when it rolls into a tight ball. They keep blowing sand out of its eyes. It helps it hide in tall grass and shadows while it stalks prey. They strain tiny animals out of huge gulps of seawater.
Main idea What is paragraph 2 mostly about?
what it eats its young how its body helps it how scientists count animals
Vocabulary Baby humpback whales are called…
hatchlings chicks calves tadpoles
Inference What word best describes where the humpback whale lives?
warm and rainy deep and salty hot and dry near fresh water
Main idea What is this passage mostly about?
the life of the monarch butterfly how to keep a pet the colors of krill the life of the humpback whale

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