What Can Live in a Lake? (First Step Nonfiction: Animal Adaptations)

by Sheila Anderson

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by Sheila Anderson

a Lerner Publications Company · Minneapolis

A lake is a habitat. 2

It is where plants and animals live. 3

Lake animals have special adaptations. 4

These help them live in a lake. 5

Fish have fins for swimming. 6

Gills let them breathe underwater. 7

Ducks use webbed feet to paddle through the water. 8

Snails have shells for protection. 9

Gulls use sharp, curved bills to eat fish. 10

Pelicans carry fish in the pouches under their bills. 11

Beavers use sharp front teeth to cut branches. 12

They use the branches to build dens. 13

Herons have long legs. 14

Herons walk in the water looking for food. 15

Water striders use long legs to skate on top of the water. 16

What other adaptations help animals live in a lake? 17

Turtle Adaptations

shell

strong jaws webbing between toes

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Learn More about Adaptations A turtle has a hard shell that covers most of its body. When danger is near, the turtle tucks its head and legs inside its shell. Webbing between the turtle’s toes helps the turtle swim. It uses strong jaws to eat plants and small animals.

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Fun Facts The alligator snapping turtle has a pink tongue that looks like a worm. When a fish comes close, the turtle snaps it up! Clams use shells to protect them from hungry hunters. The shells also help them hide among rocks. Water boatmen use long back legs to swim through the water. They carry an air bubble along to breathe underwater. 20

The leeches’ dark coloring helps them hide on the dark lake bottoms or among lake plants. Tadpoles, or baby frogs, use long tails to swim. Frogs have webbed feet and long legs that make them great swimmers. Beavers have tails shaped like paddles. When danger is near, a beaver will slap its tail on the water to warn other beavers. 21

Glossary adaptations – things that help a plant or animal live in a specific habitat dens – wild animals’ shelters, or homes gills – an organ used to breathe underwater habitat – a place to live webbed – connected by a web of skin

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Index bills – 10, 11 fin – 6 gills – 7 leg – 14, 16 pouch – 11 shell – 9 teeth – 12 webbed feet – 8 23

Copyright © 2011 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. The images in this book are used with the permission of: © Gerry Lemmo, pp. 2, 5, 10, 11, 12, 15, 22 (second from bottom); © Dwight Kuhn, pp. 3, 9, 16, 17; © age fotostock/SuperStock, pp. 4, 22 (top); © Reinhard Dirscherl/Visuals Unlimited, Inc., p. 6; © Wild Wonders of Europe/ Lundgren/naturepl.com, pp. 7, 22 (middle); © Bassam Hammoudeh/SuperStock, pp. 8, 22 (bottom); © Karlene Schwartz, pp. 13, 22 (second from top); © David Kuhn, p. 14; © Laura Westlund/Independent Picture Service, p. 18. Front cover: © Brad Phillips/Dreamstime.com Lerner Publications Company A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anderson, Sheila. What can live in a lake? / by Sheila Anderson. p. cm. — (First step nonfiction. Animal adaptations) Includes index. ISBN 978–0–7613–4573–2 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)  1. Lake animals—Adaptation—Juvenile literature. I. Title. QL146.A53 2011 591.763'6—dc22 2009024858 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 – DP – 7/15/10

eISBN: 978-0-7613-6257-9

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