35-1 (08)
release dates: August 30-September 5
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© 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
BETTY DEBNAM – Founding Editor and Editor at Large
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
A Peaceful Habitat
The Elephant Sanctuary
photos courtesy The Elephant Sanctuary
Did you know that elephants are a lot
like people? Both elephants and people
• are very social, or friendly;
• love to play;
• are very intelligent;
• have long childhoods, becoming
adults when they are about 20.
Many of these smart animals have
been taken from the wild in Africa or
Asia to live in zoos and circuses.
In zoos and circuses, elephants may be
confined to small spaces. Imagine if you
were forced to sit still in school all day,
with no recess and no play time after
school or on the weekends. It would not
be healthy for you, and you would not be
happy. You might start to feel a little
crazy. Elephants need to be able to move
around as well.
This week, The Mini Page learns about
the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee,
where old, sick and needy elephants can
find a new home.
Shirley and Bunny have
found a good home at the
Elephant Sanctuary.
Because they are so large,
they need a great deal of
food. An elephant may
weigh from 9,000 to 12,000
pounds. (An average car
weighs about 2,000
pounds.)
Adult elephants need to eat
from 150 to 220 pounds of
food per day, and they eat
only plants. They need a lot
of space to roam and find
food.
Carol meets Tarra
Carol Buckley is the co-founder of the
Elephant Sanctuary*. Her dream of a
sanctuary began in 1974 when she met
an unusual friend, a baby elephant. The
baby’s name was Fluffie, but Carol later
changed it to Tarra (TAR-rah).
*A sanctuary is a safe place.
Carol studied while keeping Tarra
company at the tire store where Tarra
lived. Carol began taking Tarra home
each night so the elephant wouldn’t be
lonely. Bob kept Tarra in a truck at night.
Carol drove the truck to her country
house each evening and parked it on her
front lawn near a big window. That way,
Tarra and Carol could see each other all
the time.
When Carol was a child, she always
brought animals home. Her family had a
large backyard that became like a little
farmyard. There were rabbits, chickens,
ducks, guinea pigs, dogs, cats and other
animals.
Carol went to college to learn how to
care for animals in a zoo or circus. She met
Tarra when the elephant was walking
down Carol’s street with her owner, Bob.
Bob had bought the Asian elephant to
be a mascot for his tire store. (People
would probably not be able to get a
permit to keep an elephant today.) Carol
was delighted when Bob said she could
help care for the little elephant. Finally,
he allowed Carol to buy her. Carol and
Tarra began a new life together.
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
TM
Rookie Cookie’s Recipe
Pudding Parfait
You’ll need:
• 1-ounce package instant sugar-free, fat-free lemon pudding mix
• 2 cups reduced-fat milk
• 1 large peach
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 2 cups fat-free whipped topping
What to do:
1. Prepare lemon pudding according to directions
with 2 cups milk. Chill for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, chop peach into small chunks and combine with blueberries.
3. Spoon 1/4 cup pudding into 4 dessert dishes. Layer 1/4 cup whipped
topping next.
4. Divide fruit mixture in half and spoon 4 equal portions on top.
5. Repeat layers of pudding, whipped topping and fruit. Serves 4.
*You will need an adult’s help with this recipe.
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
TM
Supersport: Cliff Lee
Height: 6-3
Birthdate: 8-30-1978
Weight: 190
Hometown: Benton, Ark.
If Major League Baseball gave out post-season awards, Cliff Lee
would be a viable candidate for Comeback Player of the Year.
After suffering an injury in 2007 and posting a puny 5-8
pitching record, the Cleveland Indians lefty has ascended to allstar status. In his first 16 decisions this year, Lee went 14-2 and
struck out 125 batters in 146.2 innings. His previous best year was in 2005,
when he was 18-5.
Now in his seventh and best big-league season, Lee also was chosen for the
American League All-Star team.
Lee, who played at Meridian (Miss.) Community College and the University of
Arkansas, also does a lot off the mound.
He takes an active role in several community projects. In 2006, Cliff and his
wife, Kristen, were honorary chairs of a fundraiser for cancer research and the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a project especially close to their hearts. The
Lees’ son, Jaxon, has survived leukemia.
Travels With Carol and Tarra
A new life
Carol and Tarra started performing
together at an amusement park circus.
Carol taught Tarra to hold a stick and
play an instrument called a xylophone.
Then Tarra learned how to play a drum,
a bell, a whistle and a harmonica.
Kids were
amazed that
Tarra could pick
up a little
harmonica with
her big trunk.
Asian elephants
Tarra snags a berry with
have a kind of
finger at the end her “finger.”
of their trunks. (African elephants have
two.) Elephants can pick up small
objects with these
“fingers.” They can
also lift whole trees
with their strong
trunks. They have
more than 100,000
muscles in their
trunks.
Carol and Tarra later went on the
road with their show. Tarra added roller
skating to the act.
photos courtesy The Elephant Sanctuary
Kiely Williams as Aquanette, Adrienne
Bailon as Chanel and Sabrina Bryan as
Dorinda star in the Disney Channel movie
“The Cheetah Girls: One World.” They have all
appeared in the previous two Cheetah Girls
films, and they tour and record for the
Cheetah Girls.
From left to right: Kiely Williams,
Kiely and Adrienne also sing in the rhythm
Adrienne Bailon, Sabrina Bryan
and blues/pop music group 3LW.
Kiely, 22, was born in Alexandria, Va., and grew up in New Jersey. Her mother
manages the careers of music artists, and her family has a home recording studio.
Kiely learned about the music business and how to sing from her mom. She has
three older sisters.
Adrienne, 24, grew up in New York City. She has an older sister. Adrienne got a
break when she was singing in her church choir. Singer Ricky Martin came in one
day and asked that the four best singers in the choir sing backup for him at his
concert that night. Adrienne was one of those singers.
Sabrina, 23, was born in Yorba Linda, Calif. She has one sister. Sabrina was a
member of the song team in high school. She studied public relations and
advertising in college and has appeared in several TV shows. She loves to play
soccer, wake-board and snowboard.
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
photo courtesy Disney Channel
Meet the Cheetah Girls
Carol and Scott help care
for the elephants at the
Elephant Sanctuary. There
are now 17 elephants there.
The elephants spend their
days walking through the
grounds, eating and
enjoying each other’s
company. They know where
their favorite plants are. For
example, Tarra loves to pick
ripe blackberries.
Building a sanctuary
Barbara arrives
Tarra and Carol lived at an animal
park in Canada for a while. There they
met Scott Blais, an elephant keeper at
the park. Tarra was unhappy there, and
Carol and Scott dreamed of building a
good home for elephants.
They bought 110 acres of land in
Hohenwald, Tenn., in 1995. The
sanctuary now covers 2,700 acres and is
the largest natural-habitat refuge for
elephants in America. There, elephants
can roam as they do in Africa and Asia.
There is enough room at the sanctuary
to keep 100 elephants.
A year after Tarra moved to the
sanctuary, they brought a second
elephant, Barbara, to the sanctuary.
Barbara had been in circuses
throughout her life. When she came to
the sanctuary, she weighed about 2,000
pounds less than she should have.
Elephants must chew to wear down
their teeth. New teeth form even if the
old ones are still there. Barbara hadn’t
been fed enough for the food to wear
down her teeth. As a result, she had too
many teeth and had trouble eating. Her
teeth were fixed at the sanctuary. She
died after five years there.
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
Elephants need a lot of space to roam. In
the wild, elephants walk 30 to 50 miles every
day searching for food and water. Walking
helps keep them healthy.
A better life
In circuses, elephants are often forced
to be with elephants they would not be
with in the wild. This creates stress for
them. For example, males and females
do not live together in the wild. Asian
and African elephants do not mix.
At the sanctuary, elephants have
enough room to move about. They can
be with elephants they like.
Two species
African and Asian elephants are two
different species, or
types, of animals.
African elephants have
much bigger ears and
are more wrinkled.
African elephant Both
male and female
African elephants
grow tusks. Among
Asian elephants, only
Asian elephant
males have tusks.
The Mini Page thanks Carol Buckley, cofounder, the Elephant Sanctuary, for help with
this issue.
Site to see: www.elephants.com
Tarra and Carol today
Elephants in danger
Carol travels around the country
educating the public about the needs of
captive elephants and the crisis facing
elephants in the wild.
The sanctuary
is supported by
people and
organizations
that give money
and by earnings
from Carol’s
books. Carol has
written two
“Just for Elephants”
books for kids
tells the story of the
about the
amazing friendship
Elephant
between two elephants
at the sanctuary.
Sanctuary.
She and other sanctuary workers keep
informed about the other 600 elephants
in circuses and zoos in America, ready
to rescue as many as they can if the
elephants are not treated right.
People have
killed or captured
so many elephants,
or destroyed so
much of their
habitat, that they
are in danger of extinction.
Experts say so many Asian elephants
have already been killed that their
species will probably not survive in the
wild. In Africa, so much of elephants’
habitat has been cut down that they are
in danger also.
Fun elephant facts
Minnie swims at the Elephant Sanctuary.
Elephants love water and are good
swimmers. They make themselves buoyant,
or able to float, by swallowing air. They use
their trunks as snorkels to get air from
above the surface of the water.
jacket art © 2002 by Carol Buckley, published by
Tilbury House
photos courtesy the Elephant Sanctuary
Keeping Elephants Safe
• Elephants can’t see directly below
themselves, so they use their trunks and
feet to “see” what’s right next to them.
• They use their sensitive trunks to
smell, taste and touch. Elephants can
smell ripening fruit and grab it with
their trunks.
• Elephants control their body
temperature by flapping their ears. This
cools blood in huge veins in the back of
their ears. That cooled blood
flows through their whole
body. No other animal
cools itself this way.
Look through your newspaper for stories
about animals.
Next week, The Mini Page is about the
science of NASCAR.
Lisa Tarry - Managing Editor
All the following jokes have something in common.
Can you guess the common theme or category?
Elmer: How do elephants get down from a tree?
Elsie: They sit on a leaf and wait for autumn
to arrive!
Eloise: What’s the difference between an Asian
elephant and an African elephant?
Erin: About 3,000 miles!
Erica: Why do elephants’ tusks stick out?
Esther: Who ever heard of an elephant
orthodontist?
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
Brown
Basset ws
The Ned’s
Houn
TM
Elephant Sanctuary
TRY ’N
FIND
Words that remind us of an elephant sanctuary are hidden in the block
below. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally. See if you can
find: SOCIAL, PLAY, INTELLIGENT, ASIA, AFRICA, ZOO, CIRCUS,
SAFE, NEW, BIG, TARRA, TRUNK, ROAM, SPACE, FOOD, EAT,
CARE, HARMONICA, WILD, WALK, DANGER, SPECIES, TREE,
ENVIRONMENT.
I LOVE
ELEPHANTS!
How kids can help
The most important thing we can do
to help elephants is to help protect the
environment. Walk or ride a bike when
you can instead of asking for a ride.
Turn off electronic equipment when you
aren’t using it.
Don’t buy food made with palm oil. In
elephant habitats, people often burn or
cut down trees and replant palm trees,
so that they can harvest the palm oil.
Palm trees do not provide enough
nutrition for the elephants.
The Mini Page Staff
Betty Debnam - Founding Editor and Editor at Large
from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
TM
Lucy Lien - Associate Editor
Wendy Daley - Artist
Please include all of the appropriate registered trademark symbols and copyright lines in any publication of The Mini Page®.
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from The Mini Page © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate
Mini Spy . . .
TM
Mini Spy is visiting an elephant sanctuary. See if you can find:
• word ELEPHANT • man in the moon • word ENDANGERED
• pig’s face
• sword
• strawberry
• snake
• letter B
• funny face
• carrot
• number 3
• word MINI