Y ¢ } Z cE - 7 wht. : aR ta - | ; se te . wy) Tricia Levi if Pie WP eeste ee ee eee eee ere ee eee ee f \ STRATEGIES & SKILLS AT A GLANCE Read €o | comprehension * Strategy: Make Inferences = t Find Out 1 and Analyze . 1 © Skill: Evaluate Fact and Opinion Giant pandas | Vocabulary need bamboo } * cub, danger, habitat, hollow, to survive. | preserve, regions, separate, Why are pandas 1 Lee and bamboo Vocabulary Strategy . * Word Parts: Plural Endings in danger? \ j CONTENT-AREA VOCABULARY SS Words related to pandas and bamboo photo credits (see glossary) Cover: Keren Su/CORBIS; |: Tom & Pat Leeson/ Photo Researchers, Inc.; 3: Keren Su/Getty Images; 5: (tr) John and Lisa Merrill/CORBIS; (b)) Walter H. Hodge/Peter Arnold, Inc.; 6: NATIONAL CONTENT STANDARDS. Tom & Pat Leeson/Photo Researchers, Inc; 7: A Keren Su/Gerty Images; 8: Fritz Polking/Peter Science Arnold, Ine.; 9: Keren Su/Gerty Images; 0: F Reuters/CORBIS; [2: Keren Su/CORBIS; 3: IT * Life Science Stock Free/AGE Fotostock; lt: Fritz Polking/ Peter Arnold, Inc. illustration: 4, il: Arvis Stewart. Word count: 651** Se Ll eA A coed faq] Macmillan il McGraw-Hill Published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., Two Penn Plaza, New York, New York I0I2I Copyright © by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, network storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning Printed in the United States of America 23456789 00410 09 08 07 06 **The total word count is based on words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in captions, labels, diagrams, charts, and sidebars are not includedThe Bamboo Eaters by Tricia Levi Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Giant Pandas and Bamboo .. 4 Chapter 2 Giant Panda Behavior Chapter 3 Saving the Giant Pandas.... 10 Conclusion Glossary/Index Comprehension CheckIntroduction China is the only country where pandas live in the wild. They live in bamboo forests high in the mountains. These large animals do not go far from bamboo. Pandas need bamboo. It is the main food they eat. Pandas are very important to China. They are one of China’s national treasures.For a long time, most people outside of China did not know about pandas. In 1936 Ruth Harkness, a woman from the United States, visited China. She brought a panda cub home. People loved the panda. z Fn 2 |Chapter 1 Giant Pandas and Bamboo Giant pandas live in the forests high up in the mountains. This mountain habitat is cold and rainy. Large trees make a thick cover over the forest floor. Pandas walk in the forest to find bamboo. Bamboo grows under these trees in thickets. The bamboo gives a lot of shade. It is difficult to see the pandas in the forest. Panda Homes in China @ Pandas live in the mountains in 3 regions of China: Gansu, Shaanxi, and Sichuan.Bamboo is a grass, but it is not like the grass in parks. Bamboo can grow as tall as a 12-story building! The outside of bamboo is very hard and strong. The core, or inside part, is hollow. The outside of bamboo is so strong that some people build houses and make chairs with bamboo. @ Bamboo thickets can grow very tall. @The core of bamboo is hollow.Chapter 2 Giant Panda Behavior Giant pandas spend their days eating bamboo. They cannot digest the plant easily. So it is hard for their bodies to use bamboo’s nutrients. Pandas need to eat a lot of bamboo to stay healthy. Pandas eat the soft inside part of the bamboo. They also eat the leaves of the bamboo. Pandas have a special bone on their wrists. They use this bone to get and break the bamboo. wrists: parts of an animal’s body that connects the hand or paw to the arm Pandas sit up to eat. D They hold their food with their paws.Pandas spend up to 14 hours a day eating! It takes a long time to eat all of the bamboo they need. Each day, they eat 20 to 40 pounds (9 to 18 kg) of bamboo. When they are not eating, pandas sleep or look for more bamboo. Panda Cubs A panda is very small when it is born. Its eyes are closed for the first few months. The cub does not move for almost three months. A panda cub stays with its mother for up to three years.Watching giant pandas helps scientists learn about the animals’ behaviors. Pandas can climb and swim. Scientists think pandas may live in small groups in the wild. Panda groups look for food in the same areas, or places. But sometimes pandas live alone. They can also go to other panda groups. (Doanguage Clue: Pandas is the regular plural form of /VET TIV) panda. When you add an “s” to the end of the . EC E word, it means more than one. Can you find another regular plural on page 4?It is difficult for pandas to see in the dark forest. But they need to let other pandas know they are there. How do they do this? They make special noises. Adult pandas are large, so other animals leave them alone. But panda cubs are tiny. Some animals hunt them as prey.Chapter 3 Saving the Giant Pandas People love pandas. But pandas are in danger. There are very few pandas left in the wild. Pandas are an important part of China’s culture and history. China wants to preserve pandas and the bamboo they need. Gin 2000 China sent two giant pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.@ The red parts show where pandas lived in the past. The purple parts show where pandas live today. Today pandas live in only 14,000 square miles (36,260 sq km) of mountains. China is a crowded country. More than one billion people live there. The people in China needed a lot of land to live on. Bamboo forests were cut down. Farms and cities replaced the forests. There were not many places for pandas to live. There was not much bamboo left for them to eat. crowded: not much free room or space @ Area Where Giant Pandas Used to Live ™) Area Where Giant Pandas Live Today 1In the past pandas moved from one mountain to another to find bamboo. Today farms and cities separate the places where bamboo grows. Pandas in the wild are afraid of people so they stay away. If there is no more bamboo in one area, pandas are in trouble. They cannot find food and they die. Clue: The word bamboo has the same singular \ nguage /VET CTIVE and plural forms. Can you find another noun x E that has the same singular and plural forms on page 9?China is trying to save the pandas. There are laws to protect the forests where pandas live. China is creating bamboo corridors. These corridors link places where there is a lot of bamboo. So pandas can find bamboo more easily. link: to connect or bring together Bamboo It takes from 10 to 20 years for bamboo to grow big enough to produce seeds. Bamboo plants produce seeds at the same time. Then all of the plants in the same area die. It takes a long time for the seeds to grow into plants that are big enough for pandas to eat. Bamboo corridors help pandas find new food.Conclusion Today there are only about 1,600 giant pandas in the wild. China is trying to save the pandas and the bamboo they need. If China’s plans are successful, there will be more pandas |Glossary corridors paths that join two places together (page 13) digest to change food in the stomach to a form that the body can use (page 6) nutrients things in food that help people, animals, and plants grow (page 6) prey an animal that another animal hunts and eats (page 9) thickets thick groups of plants or trees (page 4) Index bamboo corridors, 13 bamboo forests, 2, 4, 77 National Zoo in Washington, D.C, 70 panda habits, 6-8 panda sounds, 9Comprehension Check Summarize [Fact | Opinion | Fill in the Fact and Opinion Chart with facts you find in this book. Then write down opinions you find in this book. Think and Compare 1. Look at the first paragraph on page 10. Which sentences are facts and which are opinions? (Evaluate Fact and Opinion) 2. Do you think it is important to save animals such as pandas? Why or why not? What can people do to save pandas? (Analyze) 3. Are pandas in the wild afraid of people or other animals? Explain. (Eva/uate)Pe tall seh c e cy Poon Ask About Pandas > You have read a lot about pandas in this book. What else would you like to know about these animals? Work with a partner. Write three questions you would like to ask about pandas. my Animals in Danger Pandas are in danger. There are not many pandas left in the world. People need to save them. Work with a partner. Use the library or the Internet to find out about other animals in danger. Share what you learn with the class.ite ROT) ETT The Bamboo Eaters Giant pandas live in China. Pandas never go far away from bamboo. Both pandas and bamboo are very important to China. Find out why. CAL as ISBN O- WET TEL Ue SL TL