This passage talks about how scientists have come up with a revolutionary way to maintain the shark species from going extinct through global surveillance satellite tracking tags.
1. CONCEPTS OF COMPREHENSION: VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT 4" GRADE UNIT
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How to Spy on Sharks Fish Finders A pointy gray fin, a toothy smile—almost everyone knows what a shark looks like. But scientists don’t know much about how the big fish live. That's starting to change. Scientists have been collecting information about sharks around the world with satellite tracking tags'. Researchers place the tags into the flesh of a shark and release the fish into the water. The tags collect information about where the sharks travel and how deep and fast they swim. Scientists program the tags photscont to stay fastened to the shark By learning where sharks spend their time, scientists) for a certain amount of time can help protect the animals from danger. and then pop off and float to the ocean’s surface. Then the tags send the information they gathered to a satellite in space, which transmits the information to the scientists.
2. CONCEPTS OF COMPREHENSION: VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT 4" GRADE UNIT Reading Passage
People often think of sharks as fearsome killers, but the truth is that people pose a great danger to sharks. Shark attacks always make the news, but they are rare. The International Shark Attack File says that, on average, sharks kill five to 15 people a year worldwide. Every summer, the number of shark attacks begins to rise compared with previous? months, but researchers say it is not because sharks are more aggressive®. The reason for the increase is that people are spending more time in the water—surfing, swimming, and fishing in shark habitat. Still, an attack is very unlikely. A person is 30 times more likely to be killed by lightning than by a shark. Meanwhile, fishermen kill about 100 million sharks each year. Populations of great white sharks and other species are shrinking. Scientists hope to discover important areas where sharks like to spend time so those areas can be protected.