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Animal Themes
Transportation

Animals of Unusual Locomotion

Animals of Unusual Locomotion
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.07

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    arm-like, concave, downward, enlarge, freefall, fuse, gill, locomotion, mudskippers, parachute-like, pectoral, pelvic, shortfall, sucker, undulate, airborne

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Animals of Unusual Locomotion   
1     Birds fly, fish swim, and snakes crawl. While these represent the general impressions we have of animals and their ways of moving around, they are not always true. As we investigate the locomotion of each and every animal, we will find many exceptions. Here are some examples.
 
2     Ostriches and penguins are birds, but they cannot fly. Their wings are neither big enough nor strong enough to carry their heavy bodies airborne. To make up for this shortfall, ostriches opt to become excellent runners, and penguins choose to be superb divers. Ostriches have long, muscular legs. Their top speed of nearly 50 miles per hour makes them the fastest running birds on Earth! Penguins have short, webbed feet. When they travel on land, they wobble awkwardly from side to side. Yet, as soon as they enter the water, they lose all clumsiness. Their best diving record is 22 minutes underwater at a depth of 1,800 feet!

Paragraphs 3 to 4:
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