7/23/2019 Reading 4 a Tough Life

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Essay: A Tough Life

Vocabulary words:

deposit- put or set down in a specic place

confuse - make less easy to understand

predator - an animal that preys on others

trek - a long dicult ourney

slit - a long! narrow cut or opening

instincti"ely - natural or automatic

tough - able to endure hardship

generation - a set of members of a family

emerge - mo"e out of something and become "isible

sur"i"e - continue to li"e or e#ist

 Topic: life cycle of turtles

$% As safe as &om can make them

$t says here that mother turtle lays egg during the night because it is the safest

time for the eggs to be out in the open% The mother digs on the ground using her

hind legs and deposits the eggs in the hole she made% 'epending on the type of themother turtle is the number of the eggs she will ha"e%

$$% (n their own

 The mother ne"er sees her babies because she will lea"e them to hatch under the

warmth of the sun% $t will take two months for the eggs to de"elop and by this time!

some of the eggs might ha"e been eaten by fo#es! skunks! bears! raccoons! or other

animals% (ther eggs might get washed up by the )ood caused by hea"y rains or

might get dried up if they are not buried enough%

$$$% The long trek

*hen a baby turtle is ready to hatch! it must break its shell using its egg tooth%

(nce they are hatched! they climb through the soil or sand to the surface% +ome

lucky hatchlings nd themsel"es near a sea or any body of water% ,ut many must

take a long ourney ust to get into e"en though they can.t see water! they

instincti"ely know the direction where to nd it% $t is also a dangerous time for them

because hawks! gulls! raccoons! skunks! and e"en shes see baby turtles as meals%

7/23/2019 Reading 4 a Tough Life

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$V% /rom small beginnings

All turtle hatchlings are tiny! about the si0e of twenty "e centa"o coin% *ho would

imagined that these tiny creatures can grow into a leatherback sea turtles weighing

122 kilograms and measuring nearly 3%4 meters in length% +maller types of turtles

might li"e up to 4 years but larger turtle might li"e up to more than that% $t is trulyama0ing how these turtles sur"i"ed the remarkable changes in the world%