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Nutrition

All Animals Need to Eat Right

All Animals Need to Eat Right
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 3 to 4
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.93

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    birdseed, caribou, diabetes, fiber, opening, toll, regularly, eagle, lower, terrible, beavers, deep-fried, lifestyle, provides, pyramid, doing
     content words:    Silver Sound, Fast Food Mart, Fast Food King, Forrest Fox, Food Mart

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All Animals Need to Eat Right
By Joyce Furstenau 		  
1     The eagle noticed something terrible was happening to the animals living at the edge of Silver Sound this spring. Birds were losing their feathers. Bears were losing patches of fur. Mountain goats complained of sore feet. Beavers got cavities in their teeth, and the caribou all seemed to have colds. The red squirrels had become so overweight they could barely waddle across the road.
 
2     Eagle was pretty sure it happened when Forrest's Fast Food Mart opened at the edge of Silver Sound. "The Fast Food King" Forrest Fox thought he could make some extra money opening a quick stop eatery for his forest friends. Forrest knew it was difficult to find food during a harsh northern winter. He told himself he was doing the animals a favor.
 
3     Forrest's store offered birdseed in five candy-coated flavors. For hungry bears, he offered thick, artificially flavored honey syrup and deep-fried berries. Salted reindeer moss with a lichen-flavored sour cream dip was on the shelf for mountain goats and caribou. Hollow chocolate and cr¸me-filled chocolate logs were sold to hungry beavers. The sugar-coated-double-dipped-chocolate-covered peanuts were a hit with the red squirrels. Forrest could barely keep them in stock. It was a profitable winter for Forrest. But eating all the junk food at Forrest's Fast Food Mart was taking its toll on the health of these beautiful wild animals.
 
4     You see, nature made everything in perfect balance. Birds are supposed to eat fruit, plants, and seeds, not candy flavored birdseed. Bears are supposed to eat berries, plants, and bees, not artificially flavored sugar and deep-fried berries.

Paragraphs 5 to 13:
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