Nests, Voices and Skins: teacher key

Black Caimans, grade 4 edition, written for 4th grade. Follow a black caiman mother from nest to hatching. Learn about its loud voice and what hunting did to its numbers.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. When does a black caiman build her nest?
   • In the dry season (answer)
   • In the rainy season
   • In winter snow
2. How long do the eggs take to hatch?
   • A few days
   • Two to three months (answer)
   • A year
3. What did hunting do to black caimans in the 20th century?
   • It cut their number by about 99 percent, as an estimate (answer)
   • It doubled their number
   • Nothing
4. What do adult black caimans make that other black caimans can hear?
   • Loud, rumbling sounds (answer)
   • Bird songs
   • Whistles
5. Hunting cut their number by about 99 percent. What does that tell you?
   • There were far fewer black caimans than before (answer)
   • There were more black caimans
   • The number did not change

Words

• predator: animal hunter
• rodent: gnawing animal
• mound: pile of earth
• estimate: careful guess