Take you, for example. For breakfast this morning, let s say that you ate scrambled eggs, bacon, toast with butter, and orange juice

For as long as people have walked the Earth, they have loved and needed animals. All people, everywhere, need animals, and they rely on animals for m...
Author: Darcy Norton
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For as long as people have walked the Earth, they have loved and needed animals. All people, everywhere, need animals, and they rely on animals for many things. Take you, for example. For breakfast this morning, let’s say that you ate scrambled eggs, bacon, toast with butter, and orange juice. Which animal provides us with eggs? Which one gives us bacon? Where does butter come from, and which animal provides us with it? Oranges, of course, do not come from animals — they grow on orange trees. But which animal pollinates the orange flowers to make orange fruits? Do you know? And if we didn’t have that pollinator, we wouldn’t have oranges. We need animals for more than food. Many centuries ago, our cave-living ancestors wore animal furs and hides to keep themselves warm during Ice Age winters. While we don’t wear animal skins quite like we used to, some people wear fur coats, leather belts and leather shoes. Years ago, animals worked for people in farms and cities, pulling plows and guiding the milkman’s wagon and junkman’s cart. Today, most farmers use tractors instead of oxen and drive trucks instead of horses, but animals still work for people, like a police officer’s horse or a security team’s guard dog. Guide dogs help blind people to get around safely. And, in some places, cowboys still work with horses and cattle. We need animals for more than just food and work. Animals live in our homes and are our beloved pets. They appear in our movies and television shows. We write novels and picture books about them. They entertain us in zoos and aquariums. During summer vacations, we visit them in natural places, like wildlife refuges and national parks. We paint portraits of them and photograph them for museum gallery shows. Animals have even invaded our language: We hold a "mouse" to operate a computer, vote on "butterfly ballots" and get yelled at by teachers for "horsing around." Many people hunt animals for sport, while others work to protect wild, hurt, endangered or homeless animals. In the pages of this special newspaper section, we’ll explore a whole bunch of ways that people need animals, and give you a chance to better understand the deep and lasting connection between people and animals.

Learning standard: using effective speaking and listening behaviors

Animals are often in the news. Sometimes they rescue people. Sometimes someone is trying to rescue them. Look through your copy of the newspaper, examining the headlines to see whether animals appear in any news articles. As a class, discuss how animals might have made the news in today’s paper.

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An Ode to An Animal: A Poem We live in a world overflowing with animals of every shape, size and color. Here’s a poem about animals. Many lines end in a missing word. Can you guess what the last word of these lines might be? Fill them in, then read the poem aloud as a group. There are animals everywhere, on land and sea, in forests, in oceans, in air. Animals plentiful, animals small, animals huge and ones rare. There are wasps and whales, bees and bears, bats and howling beagles, Aardvarks and alligators, llamas and lice, sharp-eyed fish-catching (1)_________________, Rhinos and roundworms, monkeys and macaws, little tiny ants, Zebras and zooplankton, termites and turtles, and great gray -----–(2)_____________________, Flying fish and flamingos, penguins and pandas, elk and electric eels, Otters and ocelots, narwhals and newts, and furry, fin-slapping (3)_______________________. There are reindeer and ravens, wolves and wombats, the cobra-killing mongoose, Dragonflies and dolphins, flounders and fleas, the huge-antlered lake-living (4)___________________, Vultures and vipers, prairie dogs and parrots, the little mouse-eating shrew, Scorpions and scallops, sunfish and swan, in Australia, the hopping (5)______________________. There are tigers and toucans, bullfrogs and butterflies, a female duck and her drake, And orangutans and owls, gorillas and geckos, the poison-fanged rattle (6)____________________, Hyenas and hornets, iguanas and inchworms, the quiet manta ray, And jellyfish and jaguars, woodpeckers and whelk, the feathered and flying blue (7)______________. All totaled, there are more than five million species, each one in constant motion, Flying through forests, diving in deserts, and swimming across the ocean. No matter how big, no matter how small, each one needs to share The same few things that keep them alive: water, food and air.

Learning standard: locating diverse places

Pick one animal from this poem and find out what country and/or continent it comes from. Using a toothpick and construction paper, make a flag with your animal’s name on it. Attach each flag to your classroom globe with a small piece of modeling clay. Try to fill the globe with animals on land and in the ocean! If you don’t have a globe, try making one from papier-mâché or out of clay. Finally, check the newspaper to see if there is any news from that part of the world.

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The answers are 1.eagles 2. elephants, 3.seals, 4. moose, 5. kangaroo, 6. snake 7. jay.

Finish this sentence: People need animals because ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Read aloud some of your sentences. Write on the blackboard all the different reasons that people need animals.

Three For The Road Imagine that you are going to live on an island, all by yourself and far away from people. To live there, you would be allowed to take three different animals with you – for company, for food, even for clothing. Which three animals would you bring?

The Important Reason

Write your choices on the lines below:

Here’s another challenge. Read this list of reasons that people have needed animals. Think about all these reasons as you read them.

_____________________________________________________

People need animals as pets. (Example: dogs, cats.)

____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________

People need animals to provide food. (Example: cow, pig, chicken.)

Survivor

People need animals to provide clothing. (Example: sheep, goose.)

Divide the class into groups of three or four. Your whole group will live together on the island in a hut without electricity. How will you grow food? How will you stay warm at night and dry during the rainy season? How will you store water for bathing and cooking? Which animals will help you? Which animals can harm you? Talk about these questions with your group. Read aloud each of your choices of three animals to bring with you. Then, decide as a group which three animals the entire group will bring with you to the island. (Not three kinds of animals, but only three individual animals are allowed.) Which three did the group choose? Write your answers on the lines below. This time, to the right of the animal’s name, write why you’d like to bring that animal. How does each animal help you stay alive on the island?

ANIMAL

People need animals as transportation. (Example: horses.) People need animals to provide work. (Example: oxen, mules.) People need animals as wild creatures to visit in their natural home. (Example: birds, deer.) Of all these reasons, circle what you think is the most important reason why people need animals. Talk about this as a group. Remember: there is no right or wrong answer.

REASON

___________________________________

__________________________

___________________________________

__________________________

___________________________________

__________________________

Learning standard: understanding the characteristics of organisms

People need and use animals to survive. We use animals as pets and for food, clothing and work. Search through your newspaper for examples of ways people use animals. How many different ways can you find? Make a list to show the results of your search.

Now share your group’s choices with the whole class. How many different ideas does the group have? Is there any animal that was selected by every group?

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Read the following information about dogs. As you read, fill in the numbered blanks using one of the words below. Use one word per blank, and none will be left over. thousands smell sheep blind earthquake prey breeds

cave sizes bombs Great Dane friend Dalmatian Shepherd

Of all the animals that live on Earth, few are more important to people than dogs. Dogs come in all shapes and (1)_______________, from the tiny Chihuahua to the massive (2)________________, from the spotted (3)________________ to the fancy French poodle. What’s amazing about dogs is that no matter what kind, they are all considered one species, and all came from a single animal, the wolf. We know from archeological evidence, such as paintings on (4)_____________ walls, that dogs have lived with people for tens of (5)____________ of years – almost since the very first people! Today, dogs are mostly pets, but in prehistoric time, dogs were important members of the community. They helped track down and hunt (6)_______________. They guarded the clan at night from vicious animals like wolf cousins or cave bears. Dog breeders recognize 138 different kinds, or (7)_______________ of dogs. Each breed was developed for a specific purpose: the German (8)________________ to guard and herd (9)_______________, the Bloodhound to use its keen sense of (10)________________ to track prey for hunters, the Labrador Retriever to carry back ducks shot in the water. In Japan, the Akita was bred, believe it or not, to hunt bears. Even today, dogs work hard. In airports, dogs are used to sniff luggage for explosives and (11)_______________. At border crossings, they are used to sniff for drugs. Seeingeye dogs help (12)________________ people walk, security teams use dogs to guard important belongings, and dogs are even trained to find people trapped in buildings and rubble after an (13)________________! For thousands and thousands of years, the dog has truly been humankind’s best (14)________________.

Learning standard: writing for different purposes

If you are looking for a pet, the Classified ads are a good place to start. Read the ads to see if there is an available pet for you. Then write your own Classified ad that describes exactly what type of pet you would like to own.

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Take a poll of the students in your class. How many have pets? What kind of pets? How many have dogs? Cats? Fish? Other animals? Your teacher can put the numbers of each on the board. Make a graph showing the classroom pets.

The cat is another animal that has been a longtime friend and partner of people. Today’s pet cats are the descendants of two wild animals, the African wildcat and the Asian wildcat. The ancient Egyptians might have been the first to tame the wildcat as long as 5,000 years ago.

Match the Breed

Like dogs, cats were tamed to help people. While dogs helped shepherds and hunters, cats performed different work. They caught mice and rats. This was important because diseasecarrying fleas and insects lived in the fur of mice and rats so those animals caused lots of problems. In fact, the mouse-catching abilities of cats were so important that cats were honored in many cultures, including those in Egypt and India. In England, there is a legend about a 15thcentury mayor of London – Dick Whittington. Although he was very poor as a young man, he was the lucky owner of a cat with such rat-catching skills that an African prince bought the cat and paid so much money that Whittington became a wealthy man. Today, cats are still popular, but not just because they catch mice. Why do people like cats?

Tabby True, Feline False

feline false

2. Cats can see OK during the day, but really well at night.

feline false

3. Cats were so valuable in ancient Egypt that the Egyptians made mummies of them and buried them in tombs.

feline false

4. Cats have very poor hearing, worse than that of people.

tabby true

feline false

5. The Sphinx is a breed of hairless cat discovered in Canada in 1966.

tabby true

feline false

6. Cats kept outdoors kill millions of songbirds every year.

b. A cat from Japan thought to be a lucky charm

3. Maine coon

c. Developed on the British island of Man, this cat has no tail at all

4. Persian

d. A cream-colored cat from Thailand, a country once called Siam

5. Manx

e. A blue-furred cat breed discovered in Russia

6. Japanese bobtail

f. A long-haired cat from Iran, once known as Persia

feline false Answers. 1. e. 2. d. 3. a. 4. f. 5. c. 6. b.

tabby true

2. Siamese

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Answers: 1. False. Cats live as long as 15 years. 2. True. 3. True. 4. False. In fact, cats can hear sounds you cannot. 5. True. 6. True.

tabby true

a. the only cat breed developed in the United States

Some pet cats live indoors as pets. Others live outdoors, coming and going as they please. Many biologists worried about wild birds urge owners of outdoor cats to bring their cats indoors. Because cats are natural hunters, outdoor cats catch and kill millions of songbirds — robins, sparrows, finches and more — every year. Should pet cats be allowed to live outside? What do you think? How many cat owners in your class have indoor cats? How many have outdoor cats? Why do the owners of outdoor cats think it best for their cats to stay outside? Why do the owners of indoor cats think inside is best? Talk to your parents to find out what they think.

1. The natural life span of a cat is only one or two years.

tabby true

1. Russian blue

An Important Issue About Cats

Here are some statements about cats. Decide whether these statements are true or false. Circle your choice.

tabby true

Here are some popular breeds of cats. Can you match the breed with its description? Draw a line from the cat’s name to the line that you think describes it.

While cats and dogs are the most popular pets of all time, many other kinds of animals have been pets, too. Some folks love the tiny hermit crab, while others keep the very large horse. Some cuddle with the furry chinchilla, while others chat with the very smart chimpanzee. One thing that all pet owners have in common, though, is that no matter what the pet is, the owner is responsible for it. That means that if you have a pet, it’s up to you to see that it is well cared for. You have to feed it, groom it, clean it, and give it a safe and loving home. If you can’t or won’t be responsible and respectful of your pet, you shouldn’t have one.

And, if you do decide to get a pet, where will you go? Think about adopting an animal from an animal shelter. Every day at shelters all over the country, thousands of animals wait for good homes. When you adopt one, you spend a little but you get a lot. You save a stray animal’s life and help to cut down on the overpopulation of homeless animals. And, at most shelters, for a low cost, a veterinarian (animal doctor) will do an operation so that your pet doesn’t have any babies. This way your pet won’t add to the millions of stray, unwanted animals.

Pick a Pet Choose one pet from inside this box and do some research at the library or on the Internet to find out about it. Draw its picture in color in the box, and fill in the blanks with the information you found.

Parakeet ◆ Chimpanzee

My pet: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ What I discovered about it: ________________________________________________________________________

Burmese python ◆ Gerbil

◆ Angelfish ◆ Vietnamese pot-bellied pig ◆ Macaw ◆ Guinea pig ◆

◆ Lop-eared rabbit ◆ Horse ◆ Box tur tle ◆ Hermit crab ◆ Goldfish ◆

Learning standards: reading for information, writing in inverted pyramid style

Pets make news all the time. A dog might rescue a child from drowning in a stream, or a cat stuck up in a tree needs a neighborhood fire department to rescue it. Pick an interesting news story in today’s newspaper. Read the story carefully. Notice how the headline captures the central idea of the story. See if the news story answers the five W’s — who, what, when, why and where. Make up a news story about a pet, either your own real pet or an imaginary one. Write a news story answering the five W questions.

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Create a Classroom Pet Store Do you like visiting pet stores and checking out all the different kinds of pets? Turn your classroom into a pet store! Using large pieces of art paper, pretend that each large sheet is an aquarium or a cage. Draw pictures of pets at a pet store, each one in its cage on one sheet of paper. Label each cage with information about the pet: its name, what it eats, what it needs to stay alive. Create the pet store and then invite another class to come visit.

Animals have been characters in books for as long as people have been writing books. Animals have also starred in TV shows and movies since they began, too. From Bambi the deer to Winnie the Pooh the bear, Arthur the aardvark to Beethoven the St. Bernard, so many different animals have found life in books, television and films. Even underwater sponges have had their own show -- Nickelodeon’s "Sponge Bob Square Pants."

Look for the names of animals famous for being the biggest, tallest, longest, fastest and smallest of all. We’ve scrambled each animal’s name. Read each clue, and unscramble the animal’s name to fit in the blanks, one letter per line. Can you correctly unscramble all 14 animals? To help you, we’ve placed one letter in the right place in each one. Good luck! Note: The pictures do not

Animals appear as co-stars and supporting actors, too. Harry Potter’s books are crawling with animals, from giant snakes and spiders to Hedwig, his letter-carrying owl.

match the clues so don’t get confused!

Sometimes animals appear like people — walking, talking and wearing clothes. Sometimes these animals are just like they are in real life.

larg

Animal 1. At 100 feet long, it’s the world’s largest animal

Book It! Visit the library and find a fiction book about an animal. Then, select a nonfiction book about that same animal. For example, you could try "Misty of Chincoteague," a famous story about wild horses set on the Chesapeake Bay. Then read a book about horses. Write a book report about both books — what you learned from each, which one was more enjoyable, etc.

LUBE HALEW---___ _L_ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Animal 2: Taller than any NBA basketball player, the world’s tallest bird can also outrun any human, reaching speeds of greater than 40 miles per hour.

Anima Measuring the world’s

SHRICOT---___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _H_

HINT: One app

Learning standards: reading charts for information, understanding humor

HIMBUGD _H_ ___ _

1. Some animals are talented stars of television and motion pictures. Examine the television and movie listings. Are there any shows or movies that use animals in an important role? Make a chart telling the name of the animal, the show or movie, and a brief description of the animals’ role.

first name, it doesn’t wear a crown.

KNIG BARCO ---___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _O_ ___ ___

Extreme Animal Scramble Answers Animal 1: Blue whale. Animal 2: Ostrich. Animal 3: King cobra. Animal 4: Giraffe. Animal 5: Whale shark. Animal 6: Hummingbird. Animal 7: Hercules beetle. Animal 8: Polar bear. Animal 9: Komodo dragon. Animal 10: Cheetah. Animal 11: Millipede. Animal 12: Shrew. Animal 13:Swift. Animal 14: Giant squid.

2. Open your newspaper to the comics. Are any comics about pets or animals? Read those to yourself. What makes the story funny? Write an explanation of one strip you think is funny. Then write a story about something funny that you saw an animal do in real life.

Animal 3: Measuring 15 feet long, it’s the world’s longest venomous snake and primarily eats other snakes for dinner. HINT: In spite of its

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Animal 4: At almost two stories tall (about 20 feet!), it’s the world’s tallest animal. FRAFIGE--___ ___ ___ ___ _F_ ___ ___

m of un rea CH ___

Entertain Yourself With This Extreme Animal Scramble Animal 11: With almost 200 legs, it’s the world’s most armed animal. DELLIPIME ---___ ___ _L_ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Animal 8: The world’s largest land-living meat-eater lives in the Arctic Circle, and is a fierce hunter of seals, fish and even people.

Animal 5: Checking in at 50 feet long, it’s the rgest fish yet discovered. HINT: Its first name tells you how big it is.

WELAH KRASH ___ ___ ___ _L_ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Animal 12: This fierce little meateater measures only 1 inch long (and most of that is its tail), making it the world’s smallest mammal. HINT:

PROAL REBA --___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _B_ ___ ___ ___

A famous play by William Shakespeare was about taming one.

al 6: less than three inches long, it’s smallest (and lightest) bird.

peared in Disney’s Pocahontas movie.

Animal 9: At almost 10 feet long, it’s the world’s largest lizard, eating deer, pigs, even wild horses. HINT: Its first name is the island on which it lives; for its second name, think of the imaginary animal that is celebrated during Chinese New Year. DOOMOK GROAND ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

___ ___ ___ _G_ ___ ___

DRIMN ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Animal 13: The world’s fastest bird is also the best named: It can fly at speeds between 100 and 200 mile per hour! STIFW ___ _W_ ___ ___ ___

Animal 7: More than 6 inches long, it’s the biggest member of the largest group f insects, the beetles. HINT: To nscramble its name, think of a ally strong guy from long ago.

HULERES Beetle _ ___ _R_ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

WERSH ___ ___ ___ ___ _W_

Animal 10: Able to sprint at speeds of almost 70 miles per hour, this cat is the world’s fastest animal. HATHECE--- ___ ___ ___ ___ _T_ ___ ___

BEETLE

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Animal 14: The favorite food of the sperm whale, this mysterious deep-ocean giant is the world’s largest invertebrate and the owner of the world’s biggest eye. HINT: One-half of its name appears in the sentence before this one.

GNATI DUQIS _G_ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ___ ___

Many people work with animals every day. Horses and dogs help police officers in their work. Chimpanzees and dogs rode rocket ships in the 1960s to teach us whether space was safe for living creatures. (It was. The animals returned to Earth unharmed.) Blind people use seeing-eye dogs to help them cross streets and walk to work. Even today, farmers across the world still use horses, oxen, donkeys, and mules to plow fields and pull carts full of food to market. Cowboys still ride horses to control herds of cattle. Animals are used in science experiments to help us understand many things. Lab rats, studied by scientists, help us understand diseases and how different parts of the body work, and so much more.

Careers for People Who Love Animals All around the world, millions of people spend their lives working for and with animals. Zoologists study the behavior of endangered species in the wild and create plans to save them. Rehabilitators care for injured hawks and owls. Naturalists lead guided walks to show people animals in the wild. Kennel workers look after pets while people are on vacations. Pet-store owners sell you dogs, cats, fish and birds. Below are several more ways people earn a living by working with and around animals. Use your classroom or home dictionary to find the definition of each. Write each definition in the space provided.

Farmer :

Imagine that you are a scientist in a laboratory. Can you get your lab rat from the start to the end of this maze in order to find the piece of cheese at the end while avoiding obstacles in its way? Use a pencil or pen, and search for the right way out of the maze. How quickly can you (and your rat) complete the maze?

Jockey: Biologist: Rancher : Ranger : Zookeeper : Veterinarian: Shepherd:

Learning standard: evaluating career opportunities

Check the Help Wanted ads and circle any jobs where people work with animals. How many of those jobs are there? Which do you think is the most important? Write a description of the most important animal job. Learning standard: reflecting on scientific knowledge

Are there any science news stories in today’s newspaper? What was discovered? Were animals involved in any way? 10

Animals are an important source of food. Cows, pigs, sheep, ducks, chickens, fish, turkeys — these are only a few of the animals people eat. What we eat depends on where we live. There are Eskimos and Japanese people who eat whales. In parts of Africa, people might eat the entire alphabet of animals from antelopes to zebras. Hungry? Let’s go to lunch. Read the menu on this page. Ten foods that come from animals are on this menu. Can you find all 10? Circle them. Discuss this with your class. Are there non-animal foods you could eat instead? Would you?

Lunch Menu Main Courses Hamburger .................................................................................$ 5.25 Roast Turkey and Cranberry Sauce .........................................6.75 Spaghetti and Meatballs ............................................................3.50 Chicken Fingers .............................................................................4.50 Fish Sandwich ..............................................................................5.00 Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato Sandwich ............................................4.75 Grilled Cheese Sandwich ............................................................2.75 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich ..........................................1.90 Side Orders French Fries ..................................................................................1.75 Cornbread ...........................................................................................50 Hard-boiled Egg ...............................................................................50 Salad ..............................................................................................1.25 Applesauce .........................................................................................95

Lunch Munch Math Use the menu on this page to answer the following questions: 1. You and your dad go to the restaurant for lunch. You order chicken fingers, French fries, ice cream and a soda. Your dad has roast turkey, salad and soda. How much will your lunch cost? 2. You and your friend decide to share a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, a cup of milk and a slice of pie. How much does each of you owe? 3. You order a hamburger, French fries, a hard-boiled egg, pudding and juice (you were hungry!). When you go to pay the check, all you have is a $10 bill. How much change does the cashier give you back? 4. Divide into teams of two. Each of you should write two of your own lunch-menu word problems, and challenge your partner to find the correct answer!

Food Art Search through the newspaper’s advertising for photos, pictures or words representing foods that come from animals. Cut them out, and make a collage of foods people need that come from animals.

Classroom Menu Write a list on the board of all the animals your class has eaten. Can you name at least 20 animals? Hint: ocean animals count!

Desserts Ice Cream ......................................................................................1.80 Peach Pie……................................................................................2.25 Chocolate Pudding ........................................................................1.50 Drinks Milk, Soda or Juice .......................................................................75

Answers: Lunch menu. The 10 items are hamburger, turkey, meatballs, chicken, fish, bacon, cheese, eggs, ice cream and milk. (If the cornbread was made with butter, than we have 11 items, for butter comes from milk.) Lunch Munch Math: problem 1: $17.55 total; problem 2: $3.25 each; problem 3: your change is only $0.25—one quarter!

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Today, millions of people hunt animals. Some people hunt for pleasure and sport. Some hunt for food. Do you know anyone who is a hunter? Have you hunted or gone in the field with a hunter? Talk about what that experience is like. In America today, most hunting of animals — like deer, pheasant and turkey — is for sport, though many people eat the animals they hunt.

Here are some groups of people from around the world who have hunted or still hunt today. The column on the left shows the name of the group of people. Use your computer, library or Internet resources to look up that group’s name, draw a line to where that group’s people live, then a line to the animal you think that group would hunt. You might have to look up an animal’s name in your encyclopedia or reference materials to learn the country in which that animal lives. People

Country

Animal hunted

San Bushmen

Australia

Buffalo

Laplanders

United States

Seal

Inuit (Eskimo)

Finland

Zebra

Aborigine

Botswana

Kangaroo

Lakota Sioux

Canada

Reindeer

Surviving Again If you did the "Survivor" activity on Page 3, return to those same groups. Remember which animals you selected to bring on your island. Now, as a group, write a list of animals you agree you are allowed to hunt. Alongside that, write a list of animals you would not hunt. If your group elects not to hunt at all, what will your group eat instead? How would you survive?

Talk About It 1. Would you ever hunt? Why or why not? What do you think the difference might be between hunting buffalo and eating a storebought hamburger made from a cow? 2. Eskimos sometimes hunt whales and eat whale meat — and in some Eskimo groups, the brain is valued above all else. People in Japan eat whales where whale is valued as a delicious treat and eaten raw as a kind of sushi. Would you eat whale meat? Why or why not? If the whale were endangered, would you eat it? What if the species of whale eaten was plentiful, and not endangered at all? What’s the difference between eating a whale and eating a cow? Are there any animals you would never eat? Why?

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Answers: San Bushmen—Botswana—Zebra Laplanders—Finland—Reindeer Aborigine—Australia—Kangaroo Inuit (Eskimo)—Canada— Seal Lakota Sioux-—United States—Buffalo

From the very first moment humans walked the Earth, they have hunted animals. In fact, some of the earliest tools ever found have been arrowheads and spears that were used for killing animals. For thousands of years, we depended on animals for food, clothing, even tools. We used their bones to make fish hooks, buttons, hammers, sewing needles and much more.

To think about

Zoos are important places where people and animals meet. Zoos try to teach people about the importance of animals by introducing people to them — up close and very personally. Have you ever been to a zoo? What kinds of animals have you seen?

1. Why are zoos important? Should we keep animals in cages for educational purposes? What if an animal is endangered in the wild and can be kept safe in captivity?

Look around this page for the kinds of animals people like to visit in zoos. Pick one of these animals. Draw it in its zoo pen below. To the left of the pen, draw a zookeeper caring for the animal.

2. What might a zoo be like from the animal’s point of view? What can a zoo do to make life more comfortable, even enjoyable, for the zoo animal?

What kinds of things does a zookeeper do for a wild animal in a zoo? They feed the animals, keep them clean, care for them when they are sick, teach people about them, and more. Draw your zookeeper doing one of these things. Learning standard: writing dialogue with appropriate punctuation

Look through the comics for animals that are in the strips. Create another panel or two at the end of the strip to increase the role of the animal. Are you able to punctuate the new dialogue?

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Player 5: But a Monarch butterfly born in Canada Read this play aloud (you don’t have to act it out). There are parts for six students. Divide the class into six equal groups, and have one group be "Player 1," another "Player 2," etc. Or choose one student for each part and have the rest of the class join in on "All" or simply listen — and take turns. Consider rehearsing this aloud, and performing it for another class or reading it for a school assembly.

Player 6: With a brain the size of the period in a book

One Wild World:

Player 5: Is born with travel directions to a secluded mountain valley in Mexico, more than three thousand miles away.

A Read-Aloud Play

Player 6: No one can run like the cheetah. Player 1: No one can fly like a swift. Player 2: No one can sing like the humpback whale. Player 3: No one makes honey like a bee. Player 4: No animal is quite like any other animal. Player 5: Each one is special, different, one of a kind. Player 6: We live in a very wild world. Player 5: Overflowing with animals of every shape, color, and size.

Player 1: We live in a wild world. Player 2: A very wild world

Player 4: Living in every habitat imaginable.

Player 1: Full of strange and silly,

Player 3: From the driest desert

Player 3: Feathered and furry,

Player 2: To the coldest tundra

Player 4: Slimy and slippery,

Player 1: To the steamiest rain forest

Player 5: Beautiful and bizarre,

Player 6: To your very own backyard. Heck, animals even live inside your house.

Player 6: Weird and wonderful,

All: And some animals even live on us (start scratching your heads).

All: Animals. Player 1: We live in a wild world.

Player 1: But no matter which animal you are,

Player 2: A panda on a mountain in faraway China eats almost nothing but bamboo, bamboo for breakfast.

Player 5: From a single-celled amoeba living in a pond to the blue whale, the largest animal of all,

Player 3: Bamboo for lunch.

Player 2: Animals need only a small handful

Player 4: Bamboo for dinner.

Player 3: Or paw-full

Player 2: A whole lifetime dedicated to eating bamboo.

Player 4: Or flipper-full

Player 3: Yet a crow in a forest will eat almost anything it can get its beak on.

Player 2: Of things to stay alive.

Player 5: Like dead animals and the eggs of other birds.

Player 3: Like plentiful food and habitat in which to live,

Player 6: Like garbage and a squished squirrel on the side of the road.

Player 4: Like a safe place to raise its young,

Player 3: A whole life dedicated to eating just about everything it can.

Player 5: Like clean, clear water and clean, fresh air.

Player 4: A salamander might spend its entire life under one log.

Player 6: And if an animal cannot find these things.

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Player 3: Let’s not forget the animals around us.

Player 1: You can probably guess what might happen to it (Pause for a moment). Player 3: People live in a wild world, too. Animals are our neighbors.

Player 2: And let’s work together to keep our planet

Player 5: Animals are our food, sometimes our clothing.

ALL: A very wild world.

Player 2: Animals work for us, animals work with us. Player 4: Sometimes animals kill us, like when a shark bites a swimmer. Player 6: And sometimes we kill animals, like when we order shark in a restaurant. Player 2: We need animals. Player 1: But animals need us, too. Player 3: Animals help us every day in so many ways. Player 5: But we need to help animals too. Player 6: So we will always have wild animals as our friends. Player 3: So we will always have wild animals as our neighbors. Player 5: So we will always live in a wild world. Player 6: A world where clownfish always swim in sea anemones, Player 2: A world where seals always hide from polar bears, Player 4: A world where spiders always spin silken webs. ALL: A wild world. Player 1: A world where kangaroos always raise joeys in pouches, Player 2: And bears always rip into beehives searching for sticky honey, Player 3: And skunks always spray their scent into the face of an angry fox, Player 4: And owls always hoot in deep forests at night. ALL: A very wild world. Player 5: Where fireflies always flash, Player 6: Puppies always play, Player 4: Porcupines always pinch, Player 3: Chameleons always change color, Player 2: Penguins always waddle,

Learning standard: employing strategies to construct meaning and recognizing words

Check out today’s Sports pages, and look up the standings for a professional sport – hockey, football, baseball or basketball. Do you know the names of the teams? Pick a sport and write the names of the professional teams in that sport named for wild animals. Why are so many teams named for animals?

Player 1: And whales always sing in the ocean. Player 6: We live in a wide and wonderful world overflowing with animals of every shape, color and size. 15

Even if you don’t have a pet, you live among animals. All people live alongside animals, for every one of us lives in a neighborhood and neighborhoods are filled with animals. No matter where your home is, ants crawl along the sidewalk, birds sing from trees, squirrels jump from tree to tree, and more. Which animals live in your neighborhood? Write on these lines the names of at least 10 (more if you can do it) wild animals that live in your neighborhood. What do you know about these animals?

Nature’s Neighbors 1.__________________________________________________ 2.__________________________________________________ 3.__________________________________________________ 4.__________________________________________________ 5.__________________________________________________ 6.__________________________________________________ 7.__________________________________________________ 8.__________________________________________________ 9.__________________________________________________ 10._________________________________________________

Learn More About Animals Here are some Web sites you can check out to get more information about animals.

Credits:

www.aspca.org: The home page of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a cousin of the Humane Society. Founded in 1886, it’s America’s first organization dedicated to caring for animals. www.worldwildlife.org: The home page of the World Wildlife Fund. Check out its kid’s pages. www.enature.com: A commercial Web site dedicated to nature, especially birds. In its Field Guide section, you can find lots of gorgeous photos of many different kinds of animals. www.natzoo.si.edu: The Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo Web center. The zoo, based in Washington, D.C., sponsors online demonstrations. Watch, for example, the elephants being fed every day at 11 a.m. * Please note that websites change frequently.

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❏ This Hot Topics supplement was written by Mike Weilbacher. Mike directs a nonprofit environmental organization in the Philadelphia region and has been writing, lecturing and teaching about nature, science and the environment for 25 years. Widely published in environmental magazines and journals, his educational supplements have appeared in newspapers across the country, earning him two awards from the Educational Press Association of America for these writings. ❏ Edited by Ken Bookman ❏ Learning activities by Ned Carroll ❏ Graphic design by Jeanine M. Reilly ❏ Copyright, 2006 Hot Topics Hot Serials

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