Rhinos

Rhinos are like bulldozers. They weigh 3,000 pounds and they charge at 31 miles per hour. Rhino have poor eyesight. Anything that's close, they can see no problem, but anything that is far away, everything seems so blurry. And then there are the oxpeckers. The oxpeckers have a symbiotic relationship with the rhinos which is the oxpecker pecks tics off the rhino and the rhino keeps the oxpecker protected. It also gives them their supply of tics. And the oxpecker makes an alarm so the rhino knows it is in danger.

Rhino

(From awf.org)

Oxpecker

(From ibc.lynxeds.com)

The Portal to Nature 4: Trouble on Train Part 1

Okay, everybody, this is a two part story. Okay here is how it begins.

One day Phil was just taking a walk around the block and he fell into the nature portal. He saw one of his best friends, the spider monkey.

The spider monkey said, "Aww man, Phil. We are going to the big city."

And Phil said, "The big city?"

Spider monkey said, "Yup. The big city, which is called Africa."

Phil said, "Africa is a continent in my world."

Spider monkey said, "Well in the animal world, Africa is name of the biggest city here. We will be taking the only train to there. Now it will be a dangerous run. First there is blizzard lane. Blizzard lane is famous for its blizzards. It is also famous for its avalanches. Although luckily the train tracks don't go near the mountain where the avalanches usually happen. And after we get through blizzard lane, we'll have to go through lava lake. Lava lake is this huge canyon. Below the canyon is a huge river of lava. Although once a year some tar flows in to the canyon from a huge mountain, but once the volcano a few miles away burns up the tar it becomes dangerous again. There is one way over it though. It is a long but rickety bridge. And then we will have to go through Rickety Pit. The pit is a very big pit. A small bridge is the only way to get over it. And like lava lake, the bridge is very small and broken. And that's all we really have to go through. So we'd better catch our train."

[One hour later]

"Here's our train," says spider monkey.

[Two hours later]

Phil and spider monkey enter Blizzard's Lane. And you guessed it. There is a blizzard brewing. Spider monkey for got to mention this - that sometimes the avalanches can pick up enough speed to make it to the tracks. And that was what spider monkey told Phil.

Phil said, "Oh dear, this could really be dangerous."

And the conductor said, "There has been a report about an avalanche covering part of the track. So we can't get through!"

Spider monkey said, "Darn coincidence!"

"The avalanche team will soon clear it out," said the conductor.

To be continued....