Why does a desert tortoise dig a burrow?
Read an Informational Passage · ELPAC Grades 3–5 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
A longer factual text, with questions about the main idea, supporting details and vocabulary.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
Life Underground
The desert tortoise lives in the Mojave Desert in southern California. Summer days there can be hotter than 110 degrees, and winter nights can drop below freezing. A tortoise cannot sweat or shiver to stay comfortable. So it digs.
With its strong, flat front legs, a tortoise digs a burrow, a tunnel under the ground. Deep inside, the soil stays cool in summer and does not freeze in winter. A tortoise spends most of its life in its burrow. It comes out mainly in spring, when there are fresh plants to eat.
Rain is rare in the desert, so a tortoise must make the most of every storm. After a rain, it drinks from puddles and can store water inside its body for months. Some tortoises even scrape small dips in the dirt that catch rainwater.
Other animals use tortoise burrows, too. Lizards, snakes and even burrowing owls hide in them to escape the heat. That is one reason scientists say that protecting the tortoise helps protect many desert animals.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Why does a desert tortoise dig a burrow?
- To hide its food from other animals
- To stay cool in summer and keep from freezing in winterCorrect answer
- To find insects to eat under the ground
- To make a home for lizards and snakes
Why “To stay cool in summer and keep from freezing in winter” is correct
This is a supporting-detail question about cause and effect. The first paragraph explains that a tortoise "cannot sweat or shiver," and the second says that inside a burrow "the soil stays cool in summer and does not freeze in winter." Linking the problem in one paragraph to the solution in the next is the skill being checked.
Why the other answers are wrong
- To hide its food from other animals — The passage says the tortoise comes out to eat fresh plants; it never mentions hiding food.
- To find insects to eat under the ground — Insects are not mentioned. The tortoise eats plants in spring.
- To make a home for lizards and snakes — Other animals do use the burrows, but that is a result, not the reason the tortoise digs.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 3–5, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 3–5. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.