activity of text interpretation, aimed at students in the fifth year of elementary school, on peripato. Have you ever heard of this beast? No? How about meeting him? So, read the text carefully! Then, be sure to answer the various interpretive questions proposed!
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Read:
[…] Were it not for the number of legs, we might suspect it to be an earthworm or a centipede, but it has a limp body like a worm. In addition, its legs and antennae are fleshy, and do not follow the same movement.
Yes, people, the peripat is this unique animal, with velvety skin and purplish color on the back and lighter, almost lilac, on the belly. Finding him is no easy task, because he lives on the forest floor, under the leaves that fall from the trees. Moist, shady places are his favorites.
It is by walking among the leaves and fallen trunks that the peripate finds the spiders and small insects on which it feeds. But don't be fooled by his fragile appearance: he's a carnivore and an agile predator. When it encounters one of these small animals, it launches a jet of a sticky substance that hardens quickly, paralyzing its victims.
In fact, no one knows peripats very well and it is not known how they fit into the history of the evolution of animals. As they present some characteristics of centipedes and earthworms, biologists, for a long time, thought that they were the "missing link". between two large groups of animals: arthropods (which include centipedes, spiders and mosquitoes) and annelids (which includes earthworms and leeches). […]
Today, it is known that the peripate does not form the kinship bridge between arthropods and annelids, but its importance for understanding evolution has not diminished. There are fossils similar to these animals that date back 500 million years, showing that these animals already walked the Earth – imagine! – long before the dinosaurs.
When Brazilian scientists realized that such an important species lived in the city of Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais, they made a big fuss to preserve it. At the time of its discovery in 1954, the rulers intended to build factories in this area. But the researchers managed to create the Tripuí Ecological Station there, the name of the river that flows through the region. With this conquest, in addition to the peripato, other animals were protected, such as the sauá monkey, the peafowl and the maned wolf.
The sad part is that, although declared as protected, the region has been deforested, putting the peripate on the list of endangered animals.
Felipe Bandoni de Oliveira.
Magazine “Science Today for Children”. Edition 262.
Available in:. (With cuts).
Question 1 - In the passage “[…] he has a limp body like a worm.”, the text refers:
Question 2 – The section “[…] of velvety skin and purplish color on the back and lighter, almost lilac, on the belly.” It's:
( ) a description.
( ) a narration.
( ) an argument.
Question 3 – According to the text, finding the peripat “is not an easy task”. Identify the reason:
Question 4 – The author reveals that biologists thought, for a long time, that peripates were the “missing link” between arthropods and annelids. This is because peripaths:
( ) “fit in the history of the evolution of animals”.
( ) “have some characteristics of centipedes and earthworms”.
( ) “they already walked the Earth – imagine! – long before the dinosaurs.”
Question 5 - in the fragment "Today, it is known that the peripate does not form the kinship bridge between arthropods and annelids […]”, the underlined term indicates a circumstance of:
( ) place.
( ) mode.
( ) time.
Question 6 - Watch:
“[…] they made a big uproar to be preserved.”
The highlighted fact expresses:
( ) the cause of the previous event.
( ) the purpose of the previous fact.
( ) the consequence of the previous fact.
Question 7 - Identify the segment that contains an author opinion:
( ) “[…] he is a carnivore and an agile predator.”
( ) “But the researchers managed to create the Tripuí Ecological Station there […]”
( ) “The sad part is that, although declared as protected, the region has been deforested [...]”
By Denyse Lage Fonseca
Graduated in Letters and specialist in distance education.