Pigeon milk | Assessment Resource Banks

This task is about how images can provide information that helps the reader to understand written text. The article is about kererū.

Question Change answer

Read the article. Match the images to the paragraph they illustrate.

Question

Why do kererū (and other pigeons) have this adaptation? Well, protein is very important for the growth of young animals, but not all foods are a good source of protein. Fruit, for example, is not. Many seed and fruit eating birds feed their chicks on insects so they get enough protein while they are growing. Kererū chicks, however, get their protein from the pigeon milk fed to them by the parent birds. Pigeon milk is very rich in protein so the chicks grow very quickly.

Images can provide evidence.

Which would provide the best evidence that kererū chicks grow quickly?

- a photograph of a kererū chick with its parent
- a diagram comparing the size of a week-old fantail chick with a week-old kererū chick
- a line graph showing weekly weight gains of a kererū chick
- a table of data showing how much pigeon milk a kererū chick consumes each day

Question 1Change answer

Images show us things, but we also make inferences from them. For example, we can see one bird has its beak open. We might infer (think) the parent bird is feeding its chick.

Fill in the table to show

things you can really see
things the photograph makes you think might be true.

Use your list to fill in the tables.

Images show us things, but we also make inferences from them. For example, we can see one bird has its beak open. We might infer (think) the parent bird is feeding its chick.

Fill in the table to show

things you can really see
things the photograph makes you think might be true.

Use your list to fill in the tables.

Observation (what I can see)	Inference (what I think)

Question

Thinking about the article

"Pigeon milk" is an adaptation that helps kererū survive.

Below is a list of possible advantages that pigeon milk provides for kererū.

Select one of the advantages.

- The chicks grow quickly.
- Young chicks are not fed on insects.
- Pigeon milk is rich in protein.
- Chicks don't have to spend a long time in the nest.
- Both parents can feed milk to the chicks.

Write a paragraph explaining why the example you chose is an advantage for kererū.

Question

Which image was best for helping you understand the article about the kererū?

- All of them
- None of them

Explain why.