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My Yard 1
Hello and welcome to my yard! I would like to introduce
myself. I am a syrphid fly. Have you ever heard of
me? Most people haven’t. No one ever says, “Hey,
look. It’s a syrphid fly.” Do you know why?
Let’s see if you can figure it out. I am going to describe
myself. I am a small insect who flies. I am yellow
and black. I have short antennae and large eyes. I
get my food from the nectar and pollen in flowers. Who does that
sound like? You’re right! I sound like a
honeybee. There are a few differences between a honeybee and me,
though. I do not make honey, I have only two wings instead of
four, and, most importantly, I do not have a stinger! When people
see me, they run away because they think I will sting them, but I can’t.
Looking like a honeybee protects me. Everyone thinks I am
dangerous, so they stay away. It’s a pretty good trick, isn’t
it? This kind of trick is called mimicry. Mimicry
helps a lot of creatures survive by making them look like something else.
Let’s walk around the yard and I will show you some more
examples of
mimicry. 2
Look! Do you see that twig? If you watch
it for a minute, you will see it start to move. It is actually an
insect! It looks like a twig so no one will bother it.
On that bush there are a lot of leaves, right? Look
carefully. One of them is not a leaf at all. It is a
katydid, a kind of insect that looks like a leaf. Yikes!
Is that a snake? No. It is a hawk
moth. The spots on its wings actually look like a snake’s
head! Do you see why mimicry helps these insects survive?
For some, it makes them look like something a predator would not
want to eat. For others, it looks like something that would hurt
the predator. In both
cases, the predator stays away and the insect
survives! 3 My
yard is pretty interesting, isn’t it? Mimicry isn’t the only
adaptation animals have to help them survive. They also use
camouflage. That means that their coloring helps them hide from
predators who might want to eat them. That frog is a brownish
green color so he can hide in the bushes. The squirrel is the same
color as the tree he is running up. That lizard can actually
change colors, depending on where he is standing. Some animals can
even change colors with the seasons so they can hide in bushes in the spring and
in the snow in winter. (Those animals don’t live here in
4 Now it’s your turn. Take some time to look around your yard and see if you can find any hidden animals or animals that look like other things. They can be pretty tricky, but that’s how they survive!
1 What is this selection mostly about? A
All animals use mimicry to
survive. B Animals survive because of their adaptations. C Green animals use camouflage.
2 Why do you think people stay away from syrphid flies? F The people think the syrphid flies move too quickly. G Syrphid flies look like snakes. H The syrphid flies sting people. J The people think the syrphid flies are bees.
3 What is the main idea of paragraph 3? A Some toads are greenish brown. B Mimicry is when an animal looks like something it is not. C Camouflage helps animals hide. D It does
not snow often in
4 Since a katydid looks like a leaf - F everyone thinks it’s a bug G it lives in the snow H most people don’t notice it J all leaves are really bugs
5 The syrphid fly in this story is - A knowledgeable B rude C a bee D camouflaged
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