Selecting Main Ideas of Paragraphs (Continued)

Have you ever watched a raccoon eat? If you have seen one anywhere near water, you would think it was washing food. Oftentimes the raccoon soaked it before eating. Therefore, people think a raccoon is a very clean animal. Perhaps it is clean, but there is a better reason for washing food. A raccoon has a small throat, and it is much easier to swallow soft food. When a raccoon finds a piece of soft, mushy fruit, it eats it without soaking it first.

Are porcupines dangerous? Will they really shoot a person or an animal full of quills? Porcupines are really friendly little animals unless they are bothered. Then the porcupines will arch their backs so the quills stand on end. They back up to the enemy and lash out with their tails so the quills land in the enemy's head. Because the quills have barbs which open in the flesh, they must be cut out. Porcupines do not "shoot their quills"; but will use them in self-defense.

One family of ants, known as the Amazon ants, must capture slaves to do their work. They could not live otherwise. The Amazon ants have sharp jaws which are good for fighting. They must be fed by little black slave ants. Also they need the slaves to do their digging. Slaves also do their building.