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Life in the Desert
ight
Written by Fay Robinson
www.readinga-z.com
Home Connection: Subjects and verbsYour reader is learning to recognize the subjects and verbs in sentences. As you read the book together, select one sentence on each page. Discuss the subject and verb in each sentence that you select.
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Life in the Desert Night
A Reading A–Z Shared Reading BookWord Count: 669
Life in the Desert NightShared Reading BookLevel 3© Learning A–ZWritten by Fay Robinson
All rights reserved.www.readinga-z.comwww.readinga-z.com
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Written by Fay Robinson
Life in the Desert ight
Life in the Desert Night | Shared Reading
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Contents
Life in the Desert...................................................... 4
The Elf Owl ................................................................. 8
The Kit Fox ...............................................................10
The Tarantula ...........................................................12
The Kangaroo Rat ..................................................14
Bats.............................................................................16
Nighttime Ends .......................................................18
Glossary ...................................................................20
Life in the DesertNight is coming in the desert. The sun will
set soon, but it is still hot. The air is more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the ground is hotter than that.
In this desert, it hasn’t rained in months. The earth is baked hard, little more than dust and sand.
Deserts are the driest places on earth.
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A few creatures stir. A rattlesnake slithers across a large rock. A roadrunner dashes over the dusty soil. Grasshoppers hop between the cacti.
However, the daytime heat is too much for many animals. If they were out in the hot sun, they could die.
Many animals have adapted to life in the desert by sleeping during the day. They rest in the shade of cacti, dens, burrows, tunnels, and caves. These animals are nocturnal.
5
More than one cactus have more than one name: cacti, cactuses, or cactus.
javelina
ringtail cat
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At last, the sun sets. The air cools quickly. Soon, the nocturnal animals will come out to find food.
The animals in this book live in North American deserts.
The Elf OwlIt is night in the desert, and an elf owl
wakes up. This owl has been resting in a hole in a giant cactus. Inside the hole it is moist and dark. Now it is time for the owl to find food.
North American Deserts
An elf owl nests in a saguaro cactus.
7 8
N
W E
S
Canada
United States
Mexico
Atlantic Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Desert
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The Kit FoxIt is night in the desert, and a kit fox wakes
up. This fox has been resting in a den in a small hill. Now it is time for the fox to find food.The tiny elf owl is
about the same size as a sparrow.
Elf owls have big eyes that help them see at night. They fly silently with the help of special wing feathers. They dive to the ground to pick up scorpions with claws on their feet called talons. They scoop up flying insects and pick moths out of flowers.
9 10
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Kit foxes are about the
size of house cats. Their large ears give
off heat to help them stay cool. They dash swiftly
across the desert in search of mice, rabbits,
insects, and other animals.
Kit foxes can go many days without drinking. They get the liquid
they need from their prey.
The TarantulaIt is night in the desert, and a tarantula
wakes up. This spider has been resting in a burrow lined with a silky web. Now it is time for the tarantula to find food.
1 1
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Tarantulas walk softly on the desert earth with eight furry legs. They can feel small movements in the ground that tell them when dinner is near.
They grab their prey with two feelers near their mouth. They inject their prey with venom, and then they eat.
In search of prey, a tarantula prowls the Arizona desert at night.
The Kangaroo RatIt is night in the desert, and a kangaroo
rat wakes up. This rodent has been resting in a nest within a set of deep, connected tunnels. The tunnels are plugged with dirt to keep out the heat. Now it is time for the rodent to find food.
13 14
Life In the Desert Night | Shared Reading
BatsIt is night in the desert, and thousands
of bats wake up. They have been sleeping upside down in a cool, dark cave. Now it is time to fly out of the cave to find food.
Kangaroo rats jump like kangaroos, leaping off their big back feet. Their large eyes help them see well in the dark.
They fill fur-lined pouches in their cheeks with seeds. They will store the seeds inside their tunnels.
Kangaroo rats make water within their bodies from the seeds. They don’t have to drink at all.
Many kinds of bats live in deserts. These are Mexican free-tailed bats.
15 16
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Bats leave the cave in a group, filling the night sky. They listen for echoes to find their way through the dark. They catch insects in the sky with their tail or wings, and pop them into their mouths.
Nighttime EndsNight in the desert is almost over. Soon the
sun will rise, and the air will get hot again. The nocturnal animals are full and tired.
The elf owl flies back to its hole in the cactus. The kit fox dashes back to its shady den. The tarantula crawls back to its silky burrow. The kangaroo rat hops back into a tunnel. The bats fly back to their cave.
17 18
adapted (v) changed to fit a new or specific situation or environment (p. 6)
burrows (n) holes dug in the ground by an animal for use as a home (p. 6)
cacti (n) desert plants that usually have spines instead of leaves; more than one cactus (p. 5)
dens (n) homes of wild animals (p. 6)
desert (n) an area of land that does not usually get much rain (p. 4)
nocturnal (adj) active at night rather than during the day (p. 6)
prey (n) an animal that is hunted and eaten by a predator (p. 11)
rodent (n) a small mammal, such as a mouse or rat, that has large front teeth for gnawing (p. 14)
venom (n) a poisonous fluid that some animals use to kill prey and defend themselves, usually delivered by biting or stinging (p. 13)
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Now, it is daytime again in the desert. The nocturnal animals sleep, out of the sun, safe and cool inside their homes.
Glossary
