15   I can describe animals and insects

A    Creatures great and small: wild animals and insects

 

Glossary

creature a living thing such as an animal, bird, fish, or insect.

wild living in natural conditions: not looked after by people.

insect  a small animal with six legs, one or two pairs of wings, and a body in three parts. 

2     Which creature:

►   has wings? fly, eagle, bee, mosquito

1     has a tail? l____, e____, l____, t____, c____, m____

2     is an insect? f____, b____, m____

3     has thick fur? g____, b____

4     has a trunk? e____

5     has stripes? t ____     

6     has spots? l____

7     has a beak and feathers? e____

1     leopard, elephant, lion, tiger, camel, monkey 

2     fly, bee, mosquito;

3     gorilla, bear

4     elephant 

5     tiger 

6     leopard 

7     eagle

B    Unusual facts about animals

Snakes

There are about 2,600 different kinds of snake. About 400 are poisonous, but more are harmless. In size, they vary enormously: the smallest are 12 centimetres long, the biggest are up to 10 metres and weigh 250 kilos. Snakes don’t need energy from food (the sun heats their bodies), so they can survive for months without eating.

Sharks

The average lifespan of a shark is about 25 years but some can live to be 100. They are unusual in that they have no bones in their body, and large sharks may have up to 4,000 teeth. They are very dangerous when they hunt, but only a few attack humans: more people die from bee stings than from shark attacks.

 

Glossary

poisonous producing a dangerous substance (poison) that can kill or harm you.

harmless not causing damage, injury, or illness. OPP harmful. harm N, V.

vary (of a group) be different from each other.

up to  used when saying the most an amount can be.

weigh have a certain weight N, which is how heavy sth is.

survive continue to live in a difficult situation, survival N.

average normal or typical.

lifespan the time that sth is likely to live (for people, we say life expectancy).

bone

hunt sth  go after sth to catch and kill it.

attack sb/sth  try to hurt sb/sth by using physical force. attack N.

sting a sudden pain caused by poison sent into the skin. sting V. 

C    Farm and small animals

 

spotlight  cows and cattle 

A cow is the female animal that is kept on farms to produce milk. The male is a bull. Cows and bulls kept as farm animals can be called cattle. A group of cows is called a herd.

9     ABOUT YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY Answer the questions or ask another student.

1     Which of the animals on this page do people eat? ________________

2     Do people keep these animals in your country? If so, why?

horses? ________________

goats? ________________

bulls? ________________

donkeys? ________________

mice? ________________

Answers from an Italian person

1     In Italy, people eat horse, calf, turkey, donkey, cow, and frog.

2     People keep horses for sport and hobbies.

People keep goats for their milk.

Not many people keep bulls.

Donkeys are often kept in zoos.

People use mice for animal testing. 

10   Test yourself. Look at the picture and cover the words. Say the words.