Where and When They Feed: teacher key

Red-Bellied Piranhas, grade 5 edition, written for 5th grade. Red-bellied piranhas live in warm rivers and feed at different times of day. Find out where they live and what is on their menu.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. When do larger red-bellied piranhas look for food?
   • Only at noon
   • At dawn and in the late afternoon and evening (answer)
   • Only in winter
2. Which of these do piranhas eat?
   • Snails and other mollusks (answer)
   • Rocks
   • Ice
3. Why do red-bellied piranhas gather in shoals?
   • To hunt in packs
   • To build a boat
   • For protection (answer)
4. How long can a red-bellied piranha live?
   • About 1 year
   • About 10 years (answer)
   • About 100 years
5. What does it mean that piranhas also eat plants and fruit?
   • Their menu is wider than people think (answer)
   • They eat only meat
   • They never eat fish
6. What are scavengers?
   • Young fish
   • Kinds of river
   • Animals that eat leftovers (answer)

Words

• shoals: fish groups
• mollusks: snails and clams
• scavengers: leftover eaters
• dawn: first light
• basin: river land