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LIFE CYCLE and FOOD CHAIN

written by Miriam Sakuma
illustrated by Calvin Fujioka

Table of Contents

LIFE CYCLE AND FOOD CHAIN

Eggs Will Become Chickens

What Eats What

Sebang Learns a Lesson

Eggs Will Become Turtles

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EGGS WILL BECOME CHICKENS

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This is an egg.

This is a chicken's egg.

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This is a mommy chicken.

Mommy chicken sits on her eggs.

She sits on her eggs everyday.

It is time for chicken's egg to hatch.

Here is a new baby chick.

A new baby chick is ready to walk.

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This baby chick is walking.

This baby chick needs food.

The baby chick is eating coconut.

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The baby chick needs water.

The can of water is in front of her.

The baby chick is drinking water.

The chick is growing.

The chick is big now.

The chick is now a chicken.

She is going to be a mommy chicken.

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It is time for mommy chicken to lay her eggs.

It is time for mommy chicken to make her nest.

She is sitting in her nest.

Her nest is in the coconut basket.

She is laying her eggs.

She likes her eggs.

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She is yelling, "Pup-pe-cuck, pup-pe-cuck, pup-pup-pe-cuck."

She is calling Papa chicken.

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Mommy chicken goes, "Pup-pe-cuck, pup-pe-cuck, pup-pup-pe-cuck." Papa chicken is listening.

Papa chicken is walking behind mommy chicken.

He likes mommy chicken's eggs.

They are walking together.

They are happy.

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Mommy chicken is sitting on her eggs.

She is keeping her eggs warm.

The baby chicks are hatching from the eggs.

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Three baby chicks are behind the mommy chicken.

They are walking behind their mommy chicken.

Mommy chicken calls, "Cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck."

The baby chicks says, "Peo-peo-peo-peo-peo."

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The chicken lays an egg.

The baby chick hatches from the egg.

The baby chick grows.

The chick is now a chicken.

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WHAT EATS WHAT

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Orredakl has two chickens. Two of them are in the chicken coops. One is a hen and the other is a rooster.

Orredakl is feeding the chickens. He is giving water to the chickens. He is feeding the chickens every morning and every evening.

Orredakl has two sons. They are Sebang and Ngirachosm. Sebang is big. Ngirachosm is little. They like the chickens in the chicken coops. They watch the chickens. They touch the chickens and pat them on the back.

The hen is making a nest. Her nest is in the coconut basket. She is ready to lay eggs.

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Sebang and Ngirachosm are playing with the chickens. They are calling the chickens. The chickens are singing. The boys are getting the chickens out of the chicken coops. They like to hold their chickens in their hands.

Sebang let the rooster out. The children got together and played with the rooster. Then Sebang let the rooster walk around by himself.

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Then Orredakl came home from work. He rested for a while. Then he went and fed the chickens. When he started feeding the chickens, he saw only one chicken. Only the hen was in the chicken coops. The rooster was not in it.

Orredakl called his sons. Then he asked, "Where is the rooster?"

His sons looked for a while and said, "We don't know. He was walking around the house."

"Well, let us look for him," Orredakl said.

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Orredakl and his sons looked and looked around the house, around the benjo, and around Meyar's house. They looked around Laisang's house, too.

They looked, around the pig's pen. After a while they looked around the sweet potatoes garden next to the pig pen. Then Sebang saw red - orange and brown color between the sweet potato leaves. He ran over to see. And sure enough it was the rooster. He was sleeping .

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Sebang yelled, "Daddy, here's the rooster. He's sleeping on the sweet potato leaves."

Orredakl and everybody went to see the rooster. The rooster had his eyes closed. Orredakl stooped down and lifted him up gently. He looked at him closely. Then he told the boys that the rooster is sick. The two boys were unhappy.

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Then Father looked down on the ground near the potato leaves. There he saw snails. There were snails on the ground. Under the snails was a pile of powder. It was like sand. There was a ring of it going around the garden.

Orredakl quickly showed the boys the snails and the powder. After the boys saw the snails, they all came to the house to look for medicine.

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Orredakl gave the rooster medicine and the rooster rested. Ngirachosm feeling sorry for the rooster asked, "Daddy, what happened?"

Orredakl was quiet for a while. He said, "The rooster ate the snails. The snails ate the snail killer. The snail killer is poison."

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Sebang said, "Oh yes, I saw the snails piled on the white powder. So that's why. But Dad, who brought the poison?"

Dad explained, "Grandmother did. She doesn't like the snails. Snails eat sweet potatoes. Grandmother grows sweet potatoes for us. We eat sweet potatoes."

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Ngirachosm in surprise said, "Well, so that means the rooster ate the snails. The snails ate the snail killer. The snail killer is poison. The poison made the rooster sick. Boy, that's a long story, isn't it?"

"The hen is lucky. She's free from poison. She layed many eggs. Mommy boiled some eggs for us. We're going to eat eggs tonight," Dad said.

That day the father reminded his sons, "A good thing to remember is that poison can do harm to life."

Then after two days, the rooster died. The boys were sorry for their rooster. The whole family felt sorry, too.

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That day the father reminded his sons, "A good thing to remember is that poison can do harm to life."

Then after two days, the rooster died. The boys were sorry for their rooster. The whole family felt sorry, too.

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After that, the boys started to take care of the hen. The hen had alot of little chicks. The boys raised the chicks and they had more pets.

Grandmother asked her grandsons to find hermit crabs and bring them to the house. Hermit crabs need shells to live in. Hermit crabs use their claws to pinch snails.

After the hermit crabs kill the snails, they eat them up. This leaves the snail shells empty. Then the hermit crabs get in the snail shells. As the hermit crabs grow bigger, they do the same thing to the bigger snails.

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The grandmother stopped using the snail killer She used the hermit crabs to kill the snails.

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The boys let the chicks and mommy chicken walk around the yard. They all played together. They were all happy.

Some of the baby chicks were roosters and some were hens. The boys loved to feed many chickens. They took care of their pets so well.

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One day Orredakl and his two sons went to get fish for dinner. They went to Van Camp in Ngemelachel.

When they got there, the fishing boat came in blowing its whistle. It whistled at everyone that the fishermen made a good catch.

Orredakl knew the boat had many tuna. Some were big and some were little.

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They got what they wanted and went home. When they came home, their father started to fix the tuna for dinner. He took the knife and began cutting the fish. He cleaned the insides.

Sebang watched his father very closely. He saw the intestines. He saw the sardines and baitfish in the tuna' s stomach.

He asked, "Father, what are these sardines and baitfish doing in the tuna' s stomach?"

Father said, "My son, tuna fish eat sardines and baitfish. The big fish eat little fish."

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Father cut the fish and was ready to cook it. Everyone was waiting for dinner.

Sebang asked, "Father, how do tuna fish find their food?"

His father said, "Tuna fish go from one place to another in a group called a school. They hunt for food. Sardines and baitfish also hunt for food. They are also in schools. Sardines and baitfish go from place to place."

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"Sea gulls see the school of sardines. They fly over the sardines and baitfish and snap at them. Sardines jump around to get out of the way. The big tuna fish then come and eat the sardines and baitfish."

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"When this happens, the fishing boat follows the school of sardines to catch the tuna fish."

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Sebang asked, "What do the sardines eat?"

Father said, "Tuna fish eat sardines. Sardines eat small living things in the sea. These are very small animals that we cannot see with our eyes."

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Sebang said, "Sardines eat the smallest living animals. Now, what do the smallest living animals eat?"

Father said, "The smallest living animals eat plants in the sea."

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The boys listened to the story carefully. Then Sebang said, "Father, the story begins with plants and ends with people. It's a long story."

The father said, "Yes, it is a long story. It's a food chain. "

Ngirachosm was eating tuna and said, "Wow, I don't believe that I'm eating tuna that eat sardines that eat small animals that eat small plants. That's a long food chain."

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EGGS WILL BECOME

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TURTLES

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egg

This is a turtle's egg.

Turtle eggs are soft and tough.

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mother turtle

This is mother turtle.

Mother turtle lays her eggs on land.

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Mother turtle is covering up her eggs.

She must cover up the eggs to protect them.

Crabs can eat them.

Sometimes mother turtle gets caught in a root.

She can't crawl backward.

She will soon die in the sun.

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Some people see mother turtle caught in the root.

They help her get back to the ocean.

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About two months later, her eggs will hatch.

It is time for the eggs to hatch now.

The baby turtles are slowly coming out from under the sand.

This is a new baby turtle.

The baby turtle is soft.

It has an instinct to head for the sea.

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Frigate birds like to eat baby turtles.

Frigate birds catch baby turtles on land and in the sea.

Frigate birds can't see baby turtles hatching at night.

Baby turtles can then run safely to the sea.

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Baby turtles can't swim very deep.

They need air to breath.

Big fish can easily see the baby turtles.

Big fish eat baby turtles.

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The baby turtle needs to grow up.

When baby turtle grows up, she will become a mother turtle.

She will swim thousands of miles to lay her eggs.

She works hard to become a mother.

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So many things like to eat turtles and turtle eggs.

If we want turtles in the future, some baby turtles must live.

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WILL TURTLES SURVIVE?

1. Discuss the meaning of these words:
predator
population
extinction

2. Draw a picture of a baby turtle.

3. Draw a picture of one of the turtle's predators.

4. When you grow up and have children, will there be any turtles left if all the turtles eggs and baby turtles are eaten.