Now do this put-the-text-back-together activity.
This is the text (if you need help).
A bird that has been widely reviled in Australia for decades has undergone an image change. The reason is that it is helping to get rid of an even bigger nuisance – the invasive cane toad. The bird is the white ibis, which is indigenous to Australia. It is viewed as a pest by many Australians because of its propensity to scavenge food from garbage bags and trash cans. It even steals food right out of people's hands. People nickname them the "bin chicken". The word "bin" is Australian and British English for trash can. The birds are now being viewed in a positive light. They have adapted and learnt how to eat the poisonous and destructive cane toad. As a result, Australia's natural habitat is benefitting.
Cane toads were introduced to Australia in the 1930s. Sugar farmers thought they would help in eradicating a beetle that was devastating their crops. However, the toads soon began to wreak havoc as they rapidly spread across the countryside. They ate many insects and small animals to the point of extinction. Their toxin is strong enough to kill most native animals that eat frogs and toads. They had no natural predators in Australia, until the white ibis learnt to rid them of their venom and gulp them up. An Australian journalist said the ibises pick the toads up and "flick them about". The stress of this makes the toads release all their poison. The ibises then wash them in water and gobble them down.
- For how long has the white ibis been reviled in Australia?
- Where do the white ibises steal food from?
- What is the nickname Australians give to the white ibis?
- In what are the white ibises now being viewed?
- What does the article say is benefitting as a result of the white ibis?
- When did the cane toad first get to Australia?
- What did the cane toads wreak across Australia?
- What part of the cane toads can kill other animals?
- What do the ibises do to the frogs after they pick them up?
- What do the white ibises wash the cane toads with?
Back to the invasive species lesson.
