Bones, Rocks and Sky: teacher key

Bearded Vultures, grade 3 edition, written for 3rd grade. A bearded vulture eats mostly bones, and its stomach acid helps it digest them. It drops big bones onto rocks and glides for hours.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Which birds have the dark beard?
   • Only males
   • Only females
   • Both males and females (answer)
2. What does Quebrantahuesos mean?
   • Mountain bird
   • Bone breaker (answer)
   • Brown wing
3. What helps a bearded vulture digest bones?
   • Very strong stomach acid (answer)
   • Warm water
   • Hard rocks
4. How does a bearded vulture find food?
   • By smell
   • By song
   • By using its eyes (answer)
5. Young chicks cannot digest bone. What do their parents bring first?
   • Small bones
   • Fresh meat (answer)
   • Sticks
6. In the text, what does bald mean?
   • With no feathers (answer)
   • Very big
   • Orange

Words

• digest: break down food
• acid: strong liquid
• bald: with no feathers
• ledge: rock shelf
• glide: fly smoothly