Slow Worms

Slow Worms

Slow Worms
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.18

Vocabulary

challenging words:

flicker, indicate, occasionally, species, worldwide, devour, definition, harmful, rays, shortly, clearly, marking, dwell, lifespan, slow, male

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Slow Worms

¹     Slow worms (or slowworms) are animals that can cause a lot of confusion. At first glance, their long, cylindrical bodies and burrowing habits are reminiscent of earthworms. But, their scaly outfits clearly indicate that they are not worms. Rather, they are reptiles, a group of animals that include turtles, snakes, lizards, tuataras, and crocodilians.

²     As slow worms have no limbs and like to flicker their tongues, we may quickly conclude that they are snakes. Surprisingly, that is proven wrong, again. Snakes, by definition, do not have closable eyelids and cannot break off their tails at a life-and-death situation. Their lizard cousins, on the contrary, possess both physical features. Since slow worms meet the two anatomical characterizations, they are lizards after all. Though slow worms can regenerate their tails after a safe escape, they can never grow their tails to the full length they had before their close encounter with death.

³     Growing up to 2 feet long, slow worms have shiny skin colors ranging from brown to gray to red. Before they mature at about 3 years old, young slow worms have a central stripe running down their backs. Once they reach adulthood, however, females tend to keep this marking, but males do not. Aside from this notable physical difference, there are several other ways to determine if we are looking at a male or a female slow worm. For example, if the animal in question has blue spots on its body, a broad head, or a belly in mottled black or dark gray, it is mostly likely a "he."

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
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