How does an armadillo find insects under the ground?
Basic Understanding of a Variety of Texts · TELPAS Grade 3 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 2: find the main idea and key details, and follow what happens in stories and informational texts.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
The Armadillo
The nine-banded armadillo is the state small mammal of Texas. It is about the size of a house cat. Its back is covered with hard plates made of bone, like a suit of armor. The plates help protect the armadillo from thorny plants and from some animals that want to eat it.
Armadillos are good diggers. They use their strong front claws to dig burrows. A burrow is a hole in the ground where an armadillo sleeps and stays safe. Armadillos also dig in the dirt to find insects and grubs to eat.
An armadillo cannot see very well, but it has an excellent sense of smell. It can smell insects that are hiding under the ground.
A mother armadillo usually has four babies at one time. The four babies are always alike: they are all boys or all girls.
The question
Choose the best answer.
How does an armadillo find insects under the ground?
- It smells them.Correct answer
- It listens for them.
- It watches for them.
- It waits for rain.
Why “It smells them.” is correct
This is a detail question. Paragraph 3 says the armadillo “can smell insects that are hiding under the ground.” The student should find the sentence that answers the question rather than guess from what seems likely.
Why the other answers are wrong
- It listens for them. — The passage does not mention the armadillo’s hearing.
- It watches for them. — The passage says armadillos cannot see very well.
- It waits for rain. — Rain is not mentioned anywhere in the passage.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grade 3, or see the TELPAS practice test for 3rd grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.