5th Grade Endangered Animal Reports

We studied Endangered Animals using Encyclopedias, Books,
and the Internet. Here are our reports,
from the Animal's perspective:

Alligator
Auk
Blue Whale
Ferret
Gray Wolf
Lemur
Manatee
Prairie Dog
Seal Lion
Sea Otter
Sea Turtle
Shark
Sloth
Sturgeon
Tapir

Alligator

The Secret Place
By Jesse Vanacore

Mr. Alligator is lying in the warm waters of a swamp in Florida. He is getting ready to go to his secret place. He sinks underwater and goes through a hole. Mr. Alligator comes up into a cavern. While Mr. Alligator is in his secret place Mrs. Alligator is very worried because her eggs are going to hatch in one day. She needs Mr. Alligator to be there to comfort her. Mrs. Alligator tromps into the mound she made of mud and leaves and checks on her 60 eggs. The eggs are about 10" long. When she comes out she sees Alley Alligator. Mrs. Alligator tells Alley her problems that she doesn’t know or can find Mr. Alligator. Alley says she will spend the night to help.

During all the commotion Mr. Alligator has eaten 2 fish, 6 frogs, and 2 snakes. His broad, flat, rounded snout is all bloody from his meal so he takes a drink to wash it off. He stretches out his 470 pound, 20 foot body and goes to sleep.

That night while Ms. and Mrs. Alligator are asleep Mr. alligator comes to check on the eggs. The eggs are hatching. He wakes up his wife and tells her about the eggs. Alley sees Mr. Alligator so she goes home. Mrs. Alligator thanks her. She then walks into the mound and sees her babies. She is very happy to see them and her husband. Mrs. Alligator asks why he left. He tells her that he likes to be alone sometimes to eat his meals. They make up and sit with their children.

A couple weeks later when the babies have grown, Mr. Alligator and his family go to his secret place. They think it’s amazing. Mr. Alligator catches crabs for his children to eat for dinner. They play after dinner for a couple of minutes, and then Mrs. Alligator tells a story. The story is about their ancestors that were alive 235 million years ago. They like the story, but they fall asleep so Mr. and Mrs. Alligator go to sleep too.

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- Auk -

Mrs. Auk And Her Children
by Lori Perez

Mrs. Auk was trying to find the best tree she could find before she’d have her babies. Mrs. Auk traveled through New York, which is in the Northern Hemisphere. Finally, Mrs. Auk found a perfect tree to build her nest for her babies. In the next few days Mrs. Auk had 2 new babies. Mrs. Auk was very happy with her 2 new babies. One was a boy and one was a girl. She named the boy Louie and the girl Diana. The children liked their name very much. Louie and Diana were old enough to fly down and play on the ground. But Mrs. Auk was worried about her children playing down at the ground. So Mrs. Auk decided that she should fly out and try to find things for her children.

The next day Mrs. Auk and her children went swimming in a beautiful lake. It wasn’t cold it wasn’t hot, it was just a normal day. Later on that night it was getting cold and colder. Mrs. Auk and her children were warm because Mrs. Auk built the nest even warmer for her children.

For the past few weeks Mrs. Auk and her children lived in a safe tree. They had no problems where they lived. Mrs. Auk told her children when they grow up that they might grow up to be just like their mother. Mrs. Auk was very happy with her children Louie and Diana in her family.

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Blue Whale

Mrs. Blue Whale
Diana Poguio

Mrs. Blue Whale and Mr. Blue Whale were giving a tour to their son Ricky Blue Whale. Ricky grew very fast. He would push against his mother for his food and her thick creamy milk would squirt into his mouth. He would gain 200 pounds a day.

They all lived in the major oceans around the northern and southern hemispheres . All of them would go up to the surface of the water and open their blowholes above the water to get air. Then they would go all the way down and grab their favorite food. Their favorite food was the squid and orange krill. Mr. and Mrs. BlueWhale and Ricky Blue Whale had a normal diet. Their diet was mainly krill and other species such as squid and red crabs.

Mrs. Blue Whale weighed 190,000kg [27.6m] Mrs .Blue Whale’s, size was 22.5m long and Mr. Blue Whale was 24.0m. long. Mrs. and Mr. Blue Whale and Ricky Blue Whale had a average life of expectancy from 30 to 90 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Blue Whale and Ricky Blue Whale were related to the fin, humpback, right, and gray whales. Mrs. Blue Whale had given birth to a single calf every two or three years. It already had been 3 years and Mrs. Blue Whale was due for a new baby calf. She opened a brand new world for her baby calf. She was really excited about this new calf.

Orky’s Friend
by Samantha Vargas

Splash! Splash! was the sound of a blue whale’s strong tail. The whale was getting a breath of air before diving again to look for krill. The blue whale is named Orky. He is the largest animal which ever lived. Unlike his cousins the Sei, Humpback, Finback and Pygmy Finner he is 100 feet long and weighs 150 short tons.

Orky was swimming north in the Atlantic Ocean where he usually goes to get really good krill close to Canada. As he usually does, he gets tons of krill and water. After all the krill is in his mouth, he traps the krill and squirts the water out of his baleen.

Orky is kind of lonesome. He really needs a friend. He uses his strong tail and pushes himself forward. He made low, loud moans to call to a friend, but no one comes. Blue whales make low moans to communicate.

Orky is getting closer to Canada now. He makes another low load moan. Eskimos on a ship looking for blue whales hear him. He sees the boat and struggles to get away, but the boat gets faster and the men lift their harpoons to stab Orky. A nearby blue whale sees Orky and the ship. She pushes the ship off track so Orky can get free. Trouble has past. Orky and this whale become friends. So from then on they stick together and help each other when danger is near.

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Ferret

Another Morning on the Prairie
By Chris Gazetta

The sun just broke through the horizon when the Black Footed Ferret woke up. It was just morning on the prairie. It was the mother ferret Francesca, she was guarding her babies from the early morning badgers that had been out early these days.

When her babies woke, they would go hunting for prairie dogs. Finally, her babies woke up and were ready to go hunting. It took them about ten minutes to find a good looking prairie dog. Francesca signalled for her babies to stay back. She crept up to the prairie dog and smacked at it. She cut it almost in half. She took another bite and the prairie dog was dead.

Francesca shared the prairie dog with her children. Their breakfast was finished on another hot day prairie of Minnesota.

 

The Ferret’s Food Problem
by Steven Vasquez

Mr. Ferret zoomed like a jet after a pack of prairie dogs. Prairie dogs are the favorite food of the ferret. Mr. Ferret prairie dogs saw Mr. Ferret so the prairie dogs ran and jumped off the plateau like they were crazy, however they landed in water and started swimming for land. Luckily, Mr. Ferret caught two prairie dogs but two prairie dogs are not enough food. Now he has to get mice or ground squirrels because Mr. Ferret isn’t so crazy to jump off a plateau. He got two prairie dogs and four ground squirrels. At dinner Mrs. Ferret squeaked to Mr. Ferret "I still wish you got more prairie dogs," after she heard his story.

The next day Mr. Ferret had a plan. He would run after the prairie dogs and cut them off. Mr. Ferret got the two prairie dogs, twenty mice and one ground squirrel. Mr. Ferret loved the dinner. He wanted more prairie dogs.

So the next day Mr. Ferret had another plan. He would take his son, Fred with him. He told Fred to chase the prairie dogs and I will do the rest. He cut them off. It worked but they had to go because of the golden eagle.

The golden eagle eats ferrets. Mr. Ferret and his son run as fast as they could for their lives. Mr. Ferret almost got his tail cut off. Luckily Mr. Ferret ran like he had a jet and garbed his son. Mr. Ferret zoomed into his home in the ground.

 

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- G -

Gray Wolf
by Aaron Burke

The Gray Wolves were hunting for their lunch. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf did not catch anything for lunch, so they went back to their cave. Their cave is in a part of North America. They were so hungry, they went back to hunt. They did not know that a hunter was there. They caught their food and went back to their cave. They ate their food outside their cave. They saw the hunter and ran away.

The hunters hunted the gray wolves for 38 to 54 years because that is how long they have been alive. They ran for ten minutes and the hunter was nowhere in sight. They had to find a new cave so the hunter could not find them. They found a cave, and went hunting again. They like to eat large and small animals, like birds, fish, lizards, snakes, frogs, insects and fruit. They are always running away from them. They tell their friends that that was their problem. The hunter was looking for them again. They went to sleep and when they woke up, they went out side to see the other dogs and coyotes that relate to them. The gray wolf has gray, white, black and brown fur. They are medium sized, thick and shaggy fur and bushy tail. They ate and went back to sleep. One week later , Mrs. Wolf had babies. They are born alive and are small. When they get older, they have the same color fur, but might have different design. She fed the babies and they all went to sleep. A few weeks later, they taught the kids how to hunt, and what to do on emergencies. It lives by eating, sleeping and hunting. The gray wolf is endangered because people killed them and took their territory. After that, the hunter told his friends, not to hunt gray wolves ever again because they don’t bother you unless you bother them. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf never got hunted or their territory, or taken ever again.

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Lemur

A Leap to Death
By Sarah Bender

A beautiful ruffed lemur leaped gracefully from one tree to another. The beautiful black and white coat looked spectacular in the wind. The lemur is considered the most beautiful animal on Madagascar, an island located in the southwest Indian Ocean.

A mother of two new baby ruffed lemurs was teaching the babies how to leap from tree branch to tree branch. They were doing well so far and they stopped for a snack. Lemurs have two meals a day of either berries and nuts or small invertebrates.

Once they had their snack consisting of nuts they went back to leaping. After they finished, the mother and her young went for a small nap high in the trees, but what the mother did not know was that one of her young was lying on the edge of the tree branch. All of a sudden the mother heard a loud crash. One of her babies had fallen out of the tree! She leaped down . He was not moving. When a lemur is dead or not moving any lemur around, even the mother, will just leave it there. The mother just started to walk away when she heard a noise. It was her baby! She ran back and grabbed him with her mouth by the neck, as that is how mother lemurs carry their young. They went for a drink (for a drink, the lemurs go to the lake or lick dew off of leaves) and she never let her babies sleep on the edge of the tree branch again.

 

There’s A Man In The Forest
by Nuvia Hassan

One night Ruffed Aye-Aye, a clever lemur, went swinging through the trees of Madagascar. He saw a boat near the shore of the island in the moonlight and went to investigate. Ruffed saw footprints of a human leading into the trees. He knew humans meant danger because his parents died from one. The human gobbled them up. He and his sister, Goldie, were the only lemurs in that forest. He decided to look later.

After his dinner of fruit, bird eggs, and insects, Ruffed and his sister, Goldie, went to follow the footprints. With their long hind legs they jumped from tree to tree. With their foxlike faces they looked all around for the human.

A little chimp saw a long, fluffy tail and started to follow it. It was Ruffed's tail.

"Hi!" said the chimp," my name is Ko ko. What's yours?''

"My name is Ruffed Aye-aye and this is my my sister, Goldie," replied Ruffed.

"Hi," said Goldie.

"We're looking for a human, did you see him?" asked Ruffed.

"Nope. But I’ll help you find him," said Ko ko.

So they followed the footprints of the man. At the end of the footprints there sat a small hut. Ko ko, Ruffed, and Goldie peeked through a crack in the hut. They all gasped and their eyes popped out from fright. There they saw guns, nets, tranquilizers, small trees and worst of all, there sat a lemur in a cage.

It was a female. Ruffed, especially thought she was beautiful. He thought the human was going to eat her. Ruffed asked Ko ko to help him get the lemur out of the cage. They thought of a plan to distract the human while Ruffed got the lemur out of the cage. While Ko ko was distracting the human Ruffed opened the cage.

"Hi, my name is Dallixa,"said the lemur.

"H-h-h-hi. M-m-m-my n-name is R-r-ruffed,"said the lovesick lemur. "We’ve got to get you out of here, that human will gobble you up."

"Wait a second, you don’t understand...,"cried Dallixa.

Ruffed rushed Dallixa out of the hut and into the forest with Ko ko following them. Meanwhile, Ruffed and Ko ko had not noticed that Goldie was gone. She had been lost for a long time not knowing where Ruffed and Ko ko were, or where she was. She had been swinging blindlessly in the forest, and the trees were heading nearer and nearer to the sea.

When Ruffed and Ko ko finally noticed that Goldie was gone, they grew frantic. They followed her scent nearer to the sea. Ruffed was getting scared. He knew if she fell into the sea Goldie could not swim, and she would die. Meanwhile Dallixa kept on trying to tell Ko ko and Ruffed the something she was going to say but they wouldn’t listen because they were too busy trying to find Goldie. Finally when they got to the sea, they found the faint looking body of Goldie. Ruffed was so sad.

"I’m so sorry Ruffed. I got to home, my mom will be looking for me,"said Ko ko. Ruffed took Dallixa to his home and started whimpering.

"Don’t be so sad Ruffed. I’ve got something to tell you the human wasn’t trying to eat me, he raised me. He was trying to put me back in my habitat. And the trees you saw, he was going to plant them," said Dallixa.

This made Ruffed feel a lot better. Later in the years, Dallixa and Ruffed got quite fond of each other. Finally they got had two little babies.

One a girl, Ieana, and one a boy, Komko. They visited their uncle Ko ko often and learned everything they had to know. It’s up to the humans to decide their future.

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Manatee

A Baby Manatee in Danger
by Kassie Arcate

A mother manatee just had a calf in the Caribbean Sea. She has been holding this baby for 13 whole months. This young manatee, Melissa, is 3 feet long and weighs 40 lbs.

Melissa’s skin is bright and dark gray and little bristly hairs are scattered all over her body. Melissa’s tail is round, and she has no hind legs.

The mother manatee caries Melissa up to breath, then swims down to eat grass. When she was finished the mother feed her baby from the arm-pit.

After a couple of months Melissa was old enough to go with other manatees in groups. One day Melissa wondered away from the group and heard a strange sound. She went up for air, when coming down "BAM!! BAM!!" the motor of a motorboat hit her on the back, but she was in luck a police and vet were in the boat chasing the one boat that hit her.

The humans picked her up and put her in a tub of water. The vet brought her to a building and other humans stitched Melissa up and kept her moist. After a few days they took out the string and stitches. Melissa stayed there for two more days and then they put her back in a tub of water. Melissa was put back in the water and is a friend to any person except for hunters of manatees.

TIP from the author: There are less then 2,000 manatees left in these waters.

 

An Adventure For Manny
by Rachel Mazzacone

Manny got up one fine day in South America. The water was fresh and the water plants had just come up from the ground. It was going to be another long day for Manny. Manny ate breakfast and then he set off. First he took his morning swim.

During his morning swim Manny saw many hunters trying to shoot manatees for their blubber, oil, and flesh. Manny swam far away. Then he went to see his wife, Samantha. Samantha and Manny had lunch. After that, Manny and Samantha went to visit their old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Macko. Mrs. Macko told them to beware of the hunters that she saw.

Then they went for a swim. They went by a boat. It had strange men in it with guns. They swam away and by accident, Samantha splashed some water on one of the hunters. The hunters didn’t have any bullets in their guns. So the hunters turned on the motor and the motor hit Manny on the back. Manny was able to swim away with Samantha even though he had many cuts on his back.

That evening, Manny felt all lot better. Samantha said sorry for getting the hunters attention. Manny said it’s O.K. and they had dinner and went to sleep on the soft ground.

That morning, Manny woke up with a surprise! His wife had just had a new baby girl! Manny fed her some nice water plants. They took the whole day introducing their new baby Manatelia. Then when they went to bed, Manny said to Samantha, "It’s going to be another long day tomorrow." Samantha agreed and kissed their daughter and Manny goodnight.

Manatees live in South America, the Amazon, and Western Africa. Manatees are endangered because hunters hunt them for their blubber, flesh, and oil. The U.S. made a law for the manatees so people can not hunt them. There are less than 2,000 manatees left. Manatees also get killed from motorboat motors.

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Prairie Dog

THE PRAIRIE DOG FAMILY
by Elise Stern

The prairie dog family live in burrow in Mexico, Canada, and North America. Their names were Blacknose, the husband, and Tippy his wife. One day they had a baby named White-tail she was 0.9kg. The next day they went out for their food to look for green plants, grasses, grasshoppers, and other insects. Then they ran in to their relatives the squirrel family, rodent, marmot, and ground squirrel. When they said good-bye they ran into their enemies the coyotes, bobcats, badgers, hawks, and the eagles. Luckily they got away.

"We were lucky we did not get hurt" said Tippy "me to" said Blacknose. "me too" said white-tail in a baby voice. When White-tail was 1 year old she did what her mother did and she also understands everything. The next day Blacknose went out to look for food. One of the enemies came out and ate him. It was getting late and Blacknose was not home. The next day Blacknose was not home, so Tippy and White-tail went out to look for Blacknose but there was no more place to look. Blacknose was gone ever since and Tippy and White-tail never found out what happened to Blacknose. Years passed and White-tail was 2 years old and she also missed her father. Years and years passed and White-tail got older and older and forgot everything. One day White-tail had a boyfriend named Nosy. They had been together for a long time. They had a baby boy named Blacknose White-tail named him after her father. The baby was 1.2kg.

Peter the Prairie Dog
by James Zegarelli

Welcome to the prairie the home of many animals such as the prairie dog. This is the story about a prairie dog named Peter. This is the story about Peter's life.

Peter was born in a burrow on the American Prairie. When he was born, he was whimpering. For his first meal, he had milk. A few weeks later he was eating green plants and insects. When he was old enough, he got his first look of the prairie. Sometimes he and his brothers and sisters tumbled around in the grass.

One day while Peter was fooling around, he heard a sound. It was ferret, one of the most feared animals of the prairie dog. Peter gave a little bark and hopped into his hole. The ferret followed but lost him. When he came back out of his burrow, a farmer saw him. The farmer said, "You doggon varmint, I'm gonna kill you!" He took out his gun and since Peter had never seen a gun before, the farmer loaded his gun and, "Aw, I got on itch."

Peter went down his burrow hole. When he got back to his family, he said, "I saw an alien from outer space and he was pointing a black hole at me Mama." "Peter, you could have been killed! That was no black hole, that was a gun and that's what killed your cousin."

A few weeks later Peter caught his first insect and he was very proud of it.

At the end of the summer, Peter the Prairie Dog was off alone on the prairie to find a mate and have a family of his own.

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Sea Lion

A Day With The Sea Lions
by Elena Grajek

Watch out! A polar bear dives in after two sea lions. They swim away as fast as they can to their den. The two sea lions are named Miay and Millow. "That was close," said Miay. Miay and Millow live in the Arctic ocean so they have to have blubber which is a thick covering on the animal to keep it warm.

As they got back to their den they brought back some fish for their pup named Linda. Linda was black in color like her parents and very small. She also had ears that stuck out and looked rather cute. When they got back Linda's eyes were bugging out. She says, "What happened? I was so worried that the polar bear might eat us alive!

"It’s okay Linda," said Miay.

"How about we go and teach you how to swim," said Millow.

"Linda is a very fast learner," said Miay and before she could say any more that same polar bear swam after them. Linda was so scared that she lost track of where her mother and father went so she swam as fast as she could. Soon up ahead she saw a big rock and dodged it. The polar bear kept on going and banged his head. When Linda got back to her den, it was time for them to sleep for the winter and dream about what might happen when they wake from their long sleep.

Heartbreak and Justice
by Christina Stine

Theadore, the sea lion, is located in the Pacific Ocean. Theadore is in the seal family. He is a mammal. Theadore lives on the coast of California. He lives on rock slopes and beaches.

Now it is his time for lunch, and he gobbles up a squid. Theadore said "Mm". Theadore is a huge bull (male). He has webbed feet, is twelve feet long, and his weight is 2400 pounds.

One day the men on a boat threw a net into the water. Theadore was trapped! Finally after squiggling he got out of the net, but by time he turned around most of the sea lions were gone.

Now Theadore was very angry. So, he swam to the little cove on the shore for sea lions. So, he swam to all of the sea lions that survived the fishing boat. All of a sudden, he remembered what the fishermen were after. The fishermen were after their blubber and their hide. He also remembered what the net looked like. So, he went to the sea lions and they decided the pod would travel down south more.

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Sea Otter

The Brave Sea Otter
by Dana Finsmith

It was one early morning off the coast of Oregon in the Pacific Ocean. The baby sea otter who was just born was getting out of his kelp. The baby sea otter was now put on his mothers back by the mother picking him up by her teeth. This is the only way the sea otter can get around.

They were looking for some food for breakfast. They were looking for some fish or clams and they finally found a red, tasty, and big fish. They got their sharp, retracting claws ready and then it was gone. All sea otters have to eat half their body weight to keep them warm. After that they went close to their "wet home" to get a snack. So the mother sea otter dove down in the water and got a soft, rubbery, little squid. They ate the squid with their canines to rip them apart. Then went back to their "wet home" so the baby sea otter could take a nap until lunch time. The baby sea otter didn’t wake up yet even though it was past lunch time. So the mother sea otter went to look for something to eat and to bring back. So she went looking.

Meanwhile hunters were on land. The hunters threw a rope in the water and caught the mother sea otter. Before they could pull her out and peel her skin off the baby sea otter woke up. He found his mother stuck in the rope and then got his sharp teeth ready and started to rip the rope and got his mother free. Then the hunters fell in the water because they were pulling so hard and when the mother sea otter got free they fell forward. Then the baby and mother sea otter went looking for some fish, abalones, or clams for lunch.

Trouble Ahead
by Meghan Smith

"Look out!" yelled Sally Sea Otter as she dove underneath the salt water. "Boat!" Sally Sea Otter and her brother Sammy Sea Otter had been swimming along and suddenly a boat came by. Men were lowering fishing nets into the water of the Californian coast. Sally and Sammy swam home. Their mother had warned them about boats and to be careful around them. The young otters looked exactly like their mother with thick brown fur and webbed feet. Sally was 4 feet in length and weighed 65 pounds. Sammy was 4 and a half feet and weighed 70, pounds and their mother was 5 feet and weighed 77 pounds.

When the young otters got home their mother had surprise for them. The surprise was a delicious dinner of sea urchins and squid. The three of them went to the surface of the water and laid on their backs to eat. They slept on their back, also.

The next morning Sally and Sammy's best friend Sandra came to play. They had a lot of fun together. They played hide and seek among the kelp and rocks. They played tag ( most of the time Sandra was it because she couldn’t swim as fast as Sally and Sammy.) All of a sudden a shark came from behind a rock. Sally, Sammy, and Sandra swam as fast as they could to safety.

The next day a huge oil spill occurred. The water turned black and everything was very sticky. Many of the sea animals died. The sea animals that survived were very unhappy. The oil spill was a tragedy.

When the otters got home, their mother had another surprise. It was a bigger surprise than the first one. They were going to visit their relatives, the giant otters in South America. This was going to be the best trip ever! The young otters could hardly wait.

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Sea Turtle

We Are Almost There
by Laura Finger

Tap-tap was the sound. A dozen newborn Kemps Ridley sea turtles cracked open their shells. They all scurried across the beach hurrying to get to the ocean. "Where are you going, Kelly?" "I am going to watch the baby turtles going down to the sea."

"OK, but be back soon. " The little sea turtles did not notice the 8 year old girl coming up behind them. "We are almost there," yelped the little girl sea turtle. "Here we go." Her brother snapped.

Just as their feet touched the water. Kelly scooped the two newborn turtles into her arms, and took them over to Kelly’s spot on the beach. Without letting her mother see, she put them in a small plastic tank where she had put some small jellyfish.

The two turtles were very hungry, but were afraid the food was not good. They were very picky eaters, you know. Almost immediately, the boy tried to escape, but the girl started to tap her foot while thinking.

So Kelly named the girl Tabby, and the boy Cory. (Remember she was only *8* years old.)

Kelly went to play in the clear sand While she was gone Cory tried to open the top of the tank with his sharp beak, and Tabby who was especially hungry, ate one of the jellyfish. Finally the top opened and they both hurried across the beach. "STOP THE TURTLES" Kelly’s mother screamed. "We can make a lot of money if we sell their shells." Kelly screamed, "No, MOM, these are the most endangered sea turtles in the world." So, the turtles escaped and 2 years later Tabby’s children hurried across the beach. Now with our help the Kemps Ridley Sea turtle can come back.

 

Journey Of The Bills
by Dana Kim

Mrs. and Mr. Bill were looking for a place to lay their eggs in the warm seas of Australia. In some parts there were too many hunters. And in some parts it was poor in food, and some parts there were too many other turtles. Then they saw the perfect spot!

There was enough supply of food and there were no other turtles around and they were wondering why. They were wondering because it was such a nice place for turtles to live in.

There was one girl but that was all. The girl was there every day. And somehow she kept getting closer to them. They had 115 eggs and the girl sat there staring at them. It was almost time for the eggs to hatch. They set looking for food. They started getting worried because they were taking so long. When they came back, 5 of the eggs were gone! Mrs. Bill was frantic!

There were 110 eggs left. They were wondering what had happened to the eggs. There hadn’t been anyone around before. In an instant they started searching. They couldn’t find any eggs. When they came back, 2 more eggs were gone. They were very worried. It was time for the eggs to hatch. They saw broken shells but didn’t pay any attention to them.

Finally, the next day they got over it. The other eggs were starting to hatch. While Mrs. Bill watched her babies, Mr. Bill started looking for food. He then started getting curios of the broken egg shells. He followed them, which led to a bush near by. In the bush were 2 baby turtles.

He was so surprised! He led them to the nest. Mrs. Bill was filled with joy. They wondered what happened to the other 5 eggs. Mr. Bill started searching. But he didn’t find any eggs. Mr. Bill sadly reported this to Mrs. Bill.

That day after the baby turtles had gone to sleep, they went to look for food. When they came back, they saw the girl near the nest. They were so surprised and so was the girl. The girl ran and never came back. Finally they were in peace. Their family was in peace once more.

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Shark

Willy to the Rescue
by Jeremy Levine

One fine day Mrs. Whale Shark was dining on the finest plankton in all of the tropical waters. She had just received her 30 foot baby named Willy, who was half her size. All of a sudden, a Taiwanese ship was behind them. Just as one fired she let out a large bellow and spooked the person who was firing. The spear just missed Willy. In trying to protect her baby, she sank the boat by expelled it. The people on the boat got to a rowboat and rowed away. Willy was spinning and whirling with joy over their triumph. The sun seemed to shine on Willy's stripes and spots. "Mommy," said Willy. "Are we whales or sharks?" "We are sharks and the biggest fish in the sea."

By now, Willy was old enough to go to school. He went to the seahorse stop. When he was picked up, he met a nice whale shark named Sharkey. They went to Salty Waters School the best school in the ocean. One day in school years later Willy heard a load grunt. Behind him was an army of evil Taiwanese hunters. They kept all of the students and teachers in a cage at their lair.

They left the school in the cage with rusty bars while they were out doing evil deeds. He missed his mom and all of a sudden, he had an idea. Willy was very big and strong, Sharky was also. He remembered his mom ramming the boat. Everyone backed off and Sharkey and Willy broke the bars. Willy didn't know it but Sharkey was a girl.

The lobsters were ringing on the day of the wedding. They both said "I do," and Sharkey and Willy were officially married. They had two little kids named Sabastion and Flounder.

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Sloth

Runaway Time
by Jason Freeley

One day in a Jungle down in Brazil, a Jaguar named Stripes was hunting. Then all of a sudden he heard something. He didn't know it, but it was Jumps the Sloth. The jaguar couldn't see him because Jumps had great camouflage but the jaguar could hear Jumps in the tree tops swinging from tree to tree.A sloth has a long nose and a colorful part in their back, and long sharp claws.

The jaguar said to himself, "I should go home because I will never be able to catch Jumps when he's in the tree tops. I need to find some other food for today.

The next day Jumps woke up in the jungle and heard a hunter. He looked out of his home and saw that the hunter had a gun.This was another problem for the sloths.

Jumps said to his young son Lucky, "We have to get going." Lucky got up and started to follow his father in the tree tops. The hunter had captured the jaguar and so he could kill sloths for him. Jumps and Lucky stopped to eat. They ate leaves, and small twigs. Before they could finish, they heard a stick crack in the woods. Jumps knew it was the jaguar or the hunter. "Come on. We have to get up in a tree," squeaked Jumps.

Jumps and Lucky climbed up a tree where the hunter and the jaguar could not get to or shoot them. The next day, when Jumps and Lucky woke up the hunter and the jaguar were asleep. Jumps and Lucky crawled to another tree and started to get faraway from the camp sight. After a while, the hunter woke up and then woke the jaguar up. When the hunter told the jaguar to find the sloths, he started going the other way. The hunter knew they had gone that way. The hunter started running that way and soon caught up to Jumps and Lucky. The hunter tried to get Jumps and Lucky. After a little while the jaguar and the hunter gave up and left. Jumps and Lucky were safe again.

How Sally got her New Algae
By Gina Policastro

One day Sally was in her tree in wild Brazil eating her leaves and twigs. She was giving her baby food when she noticed that the algae on her gray fur was missing! She screamed in horror and her short ears wiggled.

That night, Sally had a bad dream. She was feeding her baby girl when suddenly, a jaguar attacked and she was defenseless. Luckily, Sally fell off the tree and in a pond and was safe, but her baby was jaguar supper. She awoke and was just fine.

Sally crawled and crawled all day and finally she decided to take a swim.

The slow ape-like creature crawled down the trunk of the tree when she spotted another sloth painting algae on his back. Sally went as quick as she could to get the algae.

When Sally got the algae she screamed with joy. She started to stir the algae until it was really slimy.

First, Sally painted her baby, then she painted herself. After it dried, she told all her friends and relatives about Algae Goo the paint that doesn’t wear off.

"I’m glad we don’t have to migrate like the birds, because if we did, when we get to where the birds are, they would be coming back home."

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Sturgeon

Steve's Swim
by Neil Quinn

Glub, Glub. Steve the sturgeon was swimming up the Hudson River. It's just about lunch time. Steve slurps lunch because Steve does not have teeth. Steve's destination is Port Ewen.

Steve started in Jersey City this morning and now he's at Sleepy Hollow. Steve swam 30 miles today and his fins are beat!

At sun up, Steve had gotten started on his swim. On the way, Steve picked up breakfast in Ossining. He met up with Sam, the sunfish. When Steve got to West Point, it was time for dinner and a break.

When Steve got up the next day, there was a catfish looking at him. It was his friend Chris, the catfish. After that, they talked for a while. They were going to the same place so they went together. At Staatsburg, they took a rest. There was a man fishing. Chris saw the hook and got reeled away. Steve never saw Chris again. Steve stayed there for the night.

When he woke up, he was not tired at all. Steve ate breakfast. He was on his way.

In a couple of hours, Steve was in Port Ewen.

 

The Wonder of A Sturgeon
Dominique Valenti

Miss Sturgeon was talking a swim in the fresh European Waters. When she saw her lunch. She sucked it up as fast as possible. She ate krill. She was about 40 years old. That’s about how old a sturgeon gets before it dies. Miss Sturgeon is related to a fish. She looks like a vicious shark with spikes and dark colors like black and gray. Female sturgeons usually grow larger then males. Sturgeons produces caviar.

At this point in the Spring she had her babies. She had at least 2,400,000 but they could have a little more. She laid the babies in the ocean on gravel and swam downstream. Miss Sturgeon was very weak at this point. This is the stage when she dies. You think she has gone through a lot well your right.

Then the sturgeons hatch they are really small. Some were taken to be eaten as caviar. That was sad to the rest of them. Would you take some to eat caviar? Don’t think that is sick some people like it.

One day the babies grew up. They turned two and were able to catch their own food. Those little ones were sure little. They were able to live on there own now. Every day they did the same thing they would play, eat, and talk. It does sound weird when I say talk but they can talk to each other. Then they grew up and went through the same process as there mother did.

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Tapir

The Tapir That Was Almost Eaten
by Aisha Mulrain

The tapir family included Mom, Dad, Aisha, Shanise, and Shamika. The mother looked something like a horse. The father looked more like a rhinoceros, and the children looked like pigs.

During the day they would sleep in the depth of the forest. After dark they would hunt for their dinner. A typical dinner may be twigs or fruit.

One day while the father was away visiting Uncle Chris, Mom and the children were sleeping. Then a jaguar came up to them and began to circle the mother. The mother called "Shamika," "Shamika," Aisha, Shamika, and Shanise woke up. They were scared and ran to their Uncle Chris house to get their father. Meanwhile, Mom tried to ran, but could not out run speedy jaguar. Before Mom could get to the safety of the water, the jaguar pounced on her. The children ran to get help from their father and Uncle Chris. Uncle Chris ran toward the jaguar who began to chase him. This allowed Mom to escape to the safety of the water. Uncle Chris was a speedy runner and he tired out the jaguar. After dark, the family came out of the water and moved to a safer area.

Tammy the Lucky Tapir
by Summer Tripp

When the sun rose in the South American forest region east of the Andes, a yellow tapir named Tammy was sleeping. Tammy got up early every morning to look for her breakfast. She usually looked for twigs, foliage, shrubs, fruit and vegetables.

After Tammy had her breakfast it began to get hot, so Tammy walked over to a stream where she swam. Tammy is an excellent swimmer. While Tammy was relaxing in the stream, a tall unfamiliar man with a gun was ready to shoot and kill an animal like Tammy.

Tammy was afraid so she jumped out of the pool and she ran her fastest over to the bushes where the man could not see her because she was camouflaged by the dappled light. The man could not see her at all.

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