Pelican

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/pelican

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Pelecanus
2. What is a pelican's pouch and how does it help them catch fish?A pelican's pouch is a stretchy part of its bill that works like a net. It can hold more than the bird's stomach, letting the pelican scoop up lots of fish at once.
3. How do different pelican species catch fish?The Brown Pelican dives from the air into water to grab fish. The Great White Pelican hunts in groups, herding fish together. The Australian Pelican can stir up sediment to find food.

Piscivorous: An organism that primarily feeds on fish, a characteristic diet of pelicans.
Asynchronous Hatching: The process where chicks in the same clutch hatch at different times, often leading to size and competitive disparities.
Bioindicator: A species whose presence, absence, or abundance reflects the condition of an ecosystem, serving as an early warning of environmental change.