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.
2
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.
3
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?
4
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.
5
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
6
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.
7
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
8
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
9
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!
11
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.
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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