edHelper.com
Animal Themes
Reptiles
Deserts

Rattlesnakes

Rattlesnakes
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   9.42

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    coils, launches, venomous, frequently, segment, medical, injection, environment, species, poisonous, fully, death, rarely, self-defense, predator, dangerous
     content words:    Great Basin Desert

Print Rattlesnakes
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Rattlesnakes  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Rattlesnakes
     Leave your feedback on Rattlesnakes  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Rattlesnakes   
1     Rattlesnakes -- or rattlers -- are dangerous and venomous. Rattlesnakes are famous for the rattles at the end of their tails. Rattlesnakes' rattles are made up of a series of loosely connected yet interlocking rings, and they make a buzzing sound when shaken.
 
2     Living in arid areas of Americas (such as the Great Basin Desert in the U.S.), rattlesnakes belong to a snake family called the viper. As all vipers do, rattlesnakes have two long, hollow fangs in their upper jaws. Usually, rattlesnakes and their viper relatives don't like to show off their teeth, so they fold them back in their mouths. Yet, when vipers are ready to strike, either for catching a prey or for self-defense, they open their mouths wide, swing forward their fangs, and give their target a deadly injection of venom!
 
3     Rattlesnakes have a very good sense of smell. By flicking their tongues in and out of their mouths, rattlesnakes are constantly sampling the air, so they can pick up the faintest trace of smell emitted by animals. Yet, aside from their tongues, rattlesnakes have a powerful secret weapon that is guaranteed to leave their victims exposed. Amazingly, rattlesnakes and some viper species have heat-sensitive pits on each side of their flattened, triangular-shaped heads that can detect the slightest change in temperature as a warm-blooded animal draws closer. Aided with these two potent devices, rattlesnakes have no problem tracking down an animal even if they are in a pitch-black environment.

Paragraphs 4 to 5:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper