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Animal Themes
Endangered Animals Theme Unit
Mammals

Wolves

Wolves
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   8.49

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    categorize, contemplate, distribution, heyday, lupus, reintroducing, subspecies, top-notch, unrestricted, extinction, tremendous, brink, carnivorous, finding, prime, timber
     content words:    North America, Middle East, Wildlife Service, Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina

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Other Languages
     Spanish: Los Lobos

Wolves   
1     As ancestors of men's best friends -- dogs -- wolves are anything but tame and cuddly. Their powerful jaws, forty-two sharp teeth, acute senses of hearing and smell, and haunting howls during the nighttime incite tremendous fear among us. Wolves run fast and travel in packs. When they team up to hunt, they can easily bring down prey more than ten times their size. As a result, they are often cast in lead roles -- rather involuntarily -- in horror fictions or thriller movies.
 
2     Of course, there are many formidable predators in the world, such as tigers and bears. What makes wolves stand out from other top-notch hunters is their ability to adapt to different types of environments. During their prime, they had the largest natural distribution of any mammal except humans. They could be found all over North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Sadly, their heyday is long gone. Unrestricted hunting and the destruction of their habitats almost wiped out the entire wolf population. Today, they are endangered.

Paragraphs 3 to 4:
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