A Mako Grows Up: teacher key

Mako Sharks, grade 8 edition, written for 8th grade. A mako pup grows inside its mother for over a year and is born looking like a small adult. Read how makos grow up, how fast they swim and how scientists follow them.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What do mako embryos feed on in the mother?
   • Seaweed
   • Plankton
   • Unfertilised or less developed eggs (answer)
2. How do scientists estimate a mako's age?
   • Growth bands in its backbone (answer)
   • Counting its teeth
   • Weighing it
3. What did recent work change about mako lifespan?
   • Makos live half as long
   • Makos live about twice as long as once thought (answer)
   • Nothing
4. Why do scientists also use tags that send data by satellite?
   • Dart tags are too heavy
   • Satellites are cheap
   • Dart tags do not show when a mako moved or its route (answer)
5. What does the mother mako do after birth?
   • She gives no care (answer)
   • She feeds the pups
   • She builds a nest
6. What can plastic dart tags NOT show?
   • Where it was tagged
   • When the shark moved and what route it took (answer)
   • Where it was caught again

Words

• oophagy: eating eggs
• embryos: unborn animals
• nursery: place for young
• satellite: orbiting machine