How the African Elephant Survives

Questions

1. Details Where does the African elephant live?

   the sandy Sahara Desert in North Africa grasslands and forests in Africa hot, dry deserts in Africa and Asia the forests, grasslands and mangrove swamps of India and Bangladesh
2. Details Which of these does the African elephant eat?

   fruit pigs bird eggs jellyfish
3. Cause and effect According to the passage, how does the African elephant use a long trunk with more than 40,000 muscles?

   They let it grab and tear its prey. It lets it grab food, drink water and greet other elephants. They trap warm air and keep out icy water. It lets it swim upstream and leap up waterfalls.
4. Main idea What is paragraph 3 mostly about?

   what it eats why some animals are in danger where it lives where the animal sleeps
5. Vocabulary The passage says the African elephant is a herbivore. What is a herbivore?

   an animal that eats other animals an animal that sleeps all winter an animal that eats only plants an animal that lives only in water
6. Vocabulary In the passage, what does the word "trunk" mean?

   a rounded lump on the back that stores fat an elephant's long nose and upper lip comb-like plates in a whale's mouth that filter food flat limbs used for swimming
7. Evidence Which sentence from the passage best supports the idea that the African elephant's body suits its home?

   One reason the African elephant survives is a long trunk with more than 40,000 muscles, which lets it grab food, drink water and greet other elephants. (Trunk means an elephant's long nose and upper lip.) It also has huge, thin ears, which flap to cool its body on hot days. To find food, it lives in close family groups led by the oldest female. The African elephant is a herbivore, which means it is an animal that eats only plants. A calf weighs about 100 kilograms at birth and is cared for by the whole herd.
8. Inference Based on the passage, why would the African elephant have trouble surviving somewhere hot and dry?

   It would have nothing to do all day. Its body and habits are suited to a place that is wide and open. It would forget how to find its home. It would grow too big.

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