First Fabulous Facts: Scary animals

by Ladybird Books

Scary Bears.

Bears have big powerful bodies, sharp teeth and long claws. They use these to catch their food. Female bears will fiercely fight off other animals, including larger male bears who try to attack their cubs.

Fabulous facts.

Big and biggest.

Polar bears live in the freezing Arctic North. They are the biggest type of bear. Standing at about 2 metres high on all fours, polar bears are taller than an adult human.

Up here!

American black bears love honey. They use their hook-like claws to climb trees and reach it.

I seal you.

Polar bears hunt for seals by waiting next to holes in the ice. When a seal comes up for air, the bear catches it with its paw.

Wow!

Brown bears in coastal parts of North America are experts at salmon fishing, catching up to forty fish a day! They stand in the river and grab the salmon with their long claws.

Deadly sharks.

Some sharks are fearsome hunters, especially the great white shark. It's huge mouth is lined with rows of about 3,000 jagged-edged, sharp teeth. If it loses a tooth, it is quickly replaced by another one!

Fabulous facts.

Speedy shapes.

Many sharks have pointed snouts, triangular fins and sleek bodies. This helps them to speed through the water at up to 95 kilometres an hour, almost as fast as a car on a motorway.

Super smell.

A shark can sense the blood of an injured animal in the water from 500 metres away. That is about ten lengths of a full-sized swimming pool.

Deadly shake.

A shark often grabs its prey in its jaws, then shakes its head from side to side to break off chunks of flesh.

Wow!

In 2012 a surfer in California, in the USA, was lucky to survive a shark attack. He fought off the shark by punching it on the nose!

Glossary:

Prey-an animal that is hunted by other animals for food.

Predator-an animal that hunts another animal for food.