Coconut Crab Reading Comprehension
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Coconut Crab Reading Comprehension
The night-time climber
On some tropical islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, a very large land-living crab searches for food after dark. It is called the coconut crab, although coconuts are only one part of its varied diet. It may also eat fruit, seeds, nuts and decaying plants. These crabs can grow much larger than the familiar crabs found on a beach. Their powerful pincers help them grip food and break tough materials. Coconut crabs are crustaceans, animals with jointed legs and a hard outer covering called an exoskeleton. As a crab grows, its old exoskeleton becomes too tight. The crab sheds it and forms a larger one. While the new covering is still soft, the crab hides to stay safer from predators. Most coconut crabs are nocturnal. During the day, they often shelter in burrows or rocky cracks. Their habitat includes coastal forests and scrubby areas where there is food and somewhere to hide. Although adults live on land, young coconut crabs begin life in the sea. After hatching, tiny young crabs spend time in the ocean before moving towards land as they develop. Coconut crabs cannot swim well as adults, so protecting island forests and shorelines matters to them. People can affect these animals by clearing their habitat or collecting too many crabs. Learning where a species lives and what it needs can help communities make choices that give it a better chance to survive.
Check your understanding
Use evidence from the text. For questions that ask you to explain, include a detail that supports your idea.
- On tropical islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans
- In cold mountain lakes
- Only on sandy beaches in New Zealand
- In deep water all their lives
- Active mainly at night
- Able to live only in water
- Active only during the hottest part of the day
- Able to change colour
- Habitat
- Crustacean
- Nocturnal
- Active mainly at night
- The natural place where an animal lives
- An animal with jointed legs and a hard outer covering
- Adults shelter in burrows or rocky cracks during the day.
- Young crabs spend time in the ocean.
- Coconut crabs live on tropical islands.
- Some crabs eat seeds.
3 printable pages
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