The Curious Kangaroo Read online

  Zoe felt excitement rush through her. A pair of furry ears and bright, shiny eyes were peeping out from the top of Great-Uncle Horace’s pouch. It was a beautiful baby kangaroo!

  As Zoe Parker settled down on the grass to do her maths homework, she felt like the luckiest girl in the whole world. Not many children would be able to do their homework sitting next to a lion enclosure! But then Zoe lived in a very special place. It was called the Rescue Zoo, and Zoe had lived there since she was a baby.

  Zoe’s Great-Uncle Horace was a famous animal expert and explorer and he’d built the Rescue Zoo as a safe place for animals who were injured or had lost their homes. Zoe’s mum, Lucy, was the zoo vet and Zoe lived with her in a cosy cottage inside the grounds. Normally Zoe did her homework in the cottage, but the sun was shining and she’d decided to work outside today.

  A young lion called Rory padded over to the fence of the enclosure and growled to Zoe softly.

  “I’m doing some sums,” Zoe replied with a grin. As well as living in a zoo, Zoe had a really special secret – she was able to understand what animals were saying and could talk to them too! This meant Zoe had lots of special animal friends. But nobody knew she could talk to the animals – not even her mum.

  Rory tossed his head back and gave another roar. Zoe smiled as she remembered how little and scared Rory had been when Great-Uncle Horace had first brought him to the zoo. He was so much bigger and happier now.

  Just then Zoe heard an excited chirrup. She turned to see Meep scampering across the grass towards her. Meep was a tiny grey mouse lemur with big golden eyes and velvety fur. He’d also been rescued by Great-Uncle Horace and brought to the zoo when he was just a baby. He was Zoe’s best friend and he lived with her and Lucy in their cottage. He even slept in Zoe’s bed at night!

  “Can I help you with your homework?” Meep chirped.

  Zoe grinned as she scooped the little lemur into her arms and gave him a big cuddle. “Of course you can.”

  She looked back at her maths book. “What’s twelve minus ten?”

  “Goo!” Meep chirped.

  “That’s right, it is two.” Zoe looked at the little lemur in surprise. She had no idea he was so good at maths!

  “No, not two, Goo!” Meep pointed up at the sky.

  Zoe shielded her eyes with her hand as she gazed into the bright sunny sky. There, coming over the treetops, was a bright-red hot-air balloon!

  “You’re right, it must be Great-Uncle Horace!” she exclaimed, leaping up from the grass and jumping up and down in excitement. Great-Uncle Horace often arrived back at the Rescue Zoo in the hot-air balloon – it was one of his favourite ways to travel!

  “Oh good!” said a voice behind her.

  Zoe turned to see the zoo manager, Mr Pinch, standing on the footpath, looking up at the balloon. As usual he was dressed in his super-smart uniform.

  But, unusually, he was smiling excitedly. Mr Pinch never normally looked excited. When Great-Uncle Horace arrived at the zoo, he often brought back a new animal to come and live there. Mr Pinch always grumbled that it meant more work for him!

  Zoe watched as Mr Pinch reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver whistle.

  “Hot-air balloon landing!” Mr Pinch shouted. Then he blew three loud toots on his whistle, causing some visitors to jump. “Stand clear, stand clear!” he shouted, before blowing the whistle again.

  Rory roared loudly and raced away from the noise. Meep put his paws over his ears. Zoe frowned.

  “What do you think of my new whistle?” Mr Pinch said proudly.

  “It’s very… loud,” Zoe replied, her ears still ringing from the noise. She picked Meep up and put him on her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go and say hi to Great-Uncle Horace.”

  Zoe ran to the open space at the back of the zoo, followed by Mr Pinch, who kept blowing his whistle and yelling.

  “What’s that noise?” Mo, the hippo keeper, called out to Zoe as they quickly hurried by.

  “Mr Pinch has a new whistle,” Zoe explained.

  Inside the enclosure, Albert and Rona, the two oldest hippos, sank down deeper into the mud. Zoe wished she could do the same to escape the noise.

  “Hot-air balloon landing!” yelled Mr Pinch, as they hurried past the monkey enclosure, and he gave another long toot on his whistle.

  The air suddenly filled with the sound of the monkeys shrieking and chattering as they scampered up into their trees in fright.

  “What’s that horrible noise?” a spider monkey named Mickey called from the branches of a willow tree.

  “It’s Mr Pinch’s whistle,” Zoe replied.

  Mickey shook his head and placed his paws over his ears. “I don’t like whistles,” he chattered glumly.

  Finally they reached the clearing.

  As the bright balloon came in to land, Zoe noticed that there was no crate attached to the basket. Maybe Great-Uncle Horace hadn’t brought an animal this time. She felt a wave of disappointment crash over her.

  But as the basket gently bumped down on to the grass and Great-Uncle Horace clambered out, she noticed he was wearing a strange sort of pouch at the front of his body.

  “Zoe! Hello, my dear!” Great-Uncle Horace boomed. His white hair was windswept from the balloon ride and his beautiful hyacinth macaw Kiki was perched on his shoulder. Kiki stretched her blue wings and squawked loudly.

  “Great-Uncle Horace! It’s so good to see you!” cried Zoe as she ran over to greet him.

  All around the zoo, hoots and squawks of happiness rang out as news spread that Great-Uncle Horace was back. All of the animals in the Rescue Zoo loved Great-Uncle Horace. After all, if he hadn’t rescued them, they wouldn’t have such a nice place to live!

  As Zoe got closer to Great-Uncle Horace she felt excitement rush through her. A pair of furry ears and bright, shiny eyes were peeping out from the top of Great-Uncle Horace’s pouch. He had brought a new animal back with him after all … but what could it be?

  “What’s in there, Great-Uncle Horace?” Zoe asked, pointing to the pouch. The little furry ears poking over the top of the pouch darted about in all directions.

  “This is a baby kangaroo,” Great-Uncle Horace replied, patting the little animal on the head. “This little joey has come all the way from the Australian outback. I really hope you get to go to the outback one day, Zoe. It truly is the most remarkable place.” Great-Uncle Horace put his arm around Zoe’s shoulders and gave her a hug. “It’s very hot and dry, but these wonderful creatures adapt so well to their surroundings. Did you know that a kangaroo can go for months without drinking anything at all?”

  Zoe shook her head in disbelief. She couldn’t imagine going a few hours without a drink, let alone months!

  Great-Uncle Horace sighed. “Sadly, this baby’s mother was run over by a car. I couldn’t leave this little one on her own so I decided to bring her back here to be looked after.”

  “She’s so sweet,” said Zoe, reaching out her hand to stroke the joey. She had such soft, velvety fur and tickly whiskers! But before Zoe could ask Great-Uncle Horace any more questions, Mr Pinch blew another loud toot on his whistle.

  “The balloon has landed!” he announced importantly to the crowd of zoo visitors who had gathered around.

  At the sound of the whistle the little kangaroo disappeared back into her pouch in fright.

  “Goodness me!” exclaimed Great-Uncle Horace. “What a noise!”

  “I know,” Zoe whispered. “He won’t stop blowing his new whistle!”

  “Right, I’d better get off to my office,” Mr Pinch said, putting his whistle back in his pocket. “Lots of important things to do and I need to get started on my paperwork.” He turned on his heel and marched away.

  �
�Thank goodness for that. I don’t think my ears could have taken much more of that whistle.” Great-Uncle Horace looked down at the pouch. “It’s all right, you can come out now,” he said, coaxing the joey back out again.

  “Why is she in that pouch?” asked Zoe as she watched the little kangaroo peep out curiously.

  “She needs to be there,” Great-Uncle Horace replied. “You see, baby kangaroos spend the first ten months in their mother’s pouches. For the first four months they don’t leave the pouch at all. Then for the next six months they start exploring the world but they still need a pouch to come back to for comfort and sleep.” He stroked the joey’s soft brown ears. “I had to make the pouch so this little one would have somewhere to rest. She’s about eight months old now so she still has a couple of months before she’ll be ready to leave the pouch completely.”

  Zoe looked at the pouch. She wished she could carry the baby kangaroo and give her a cuddle. Then she could tell her everything was going to be OK!

  “Right then,” Great-Uncle Horace said, rubbing his hands together. “Shall we go and find your mum? I do believe I’ve arrived just in time for tea!”

  When they got to the cottage, Lucy was taking a large pizza from the oven.

  “Do you have enough to feed one more?” Great-Uncle Horace said as he poked his head around the door of the kitchen. Kiki fluttered from his shoulder and perched on top of the fridge.

  “Uncle Horace!” Lucy cried, giving him a huge hug. “What a lovely surprise! Of course you must join us for dinner; there’s plenty to go round.” Then she spotted the pouch he was wearing. “Oh! Who do we have here?”

  The baby kangaroo poked her head out of the pouch and looked around the kitchen.

  “It’s a baby kangaroo,” Zoe explained. “She’s only eight months old so she still needs to be in a pouch some of the time.”

  “How lovely!” beamed Lucy.

  “Yes, although I’m a bit worried about something,” said Great-Uncle Horace, carefully sitting down at the table.

  “What is it?” asked Zoe. She couldn’t imagine how wearing a cute kangaroo in a pouch could cause anyone to worry!

  “Well, I’ve been asked to go on a special expedition to Peru tomorrow, to study some mountain goats,” Great-Uncle Horace said, stroking the joey’s head. “But I can’t take this little one with me. It would be far too dangerous for her up in the mountains.”

  As Zoe looked at the little kangaroo snuggled up in the pouch she had a brilliant idea. “Mum, can we look after her? We could take it in turns to wear the pouch? It would be so much fun!” she exclaimed. Meep jumped up and down on the kitchen floor, chattering excitedly. He thought taking care of the baby kangaroo would be a lot of fun too!

  “Oh, I’m not sure,” Lucy said, picking up the baby kangaroo and carefully checking her over. “She looks nice and healthy but it would be a lot of extra work. And you have school, and I have to look after all the other zoo animals.”

  Zoe’s heart sank. She really wanted to carry the little kangaroo around and look after her!

  “It would be a lot of work for the two of you,” Great-Uncle Horace said thoughtfully. “But what about if Kieran helps too?”

  Kieran was the zookeeper who helped to look after the other marsupials, including the koalas, wallabies and grown-up kangaroos.

  Great-Uncle Horace smiled. “After all, the little joey will end up living in the kangaroo enclosure once she’s out of the pouch. It would do her good to get to know Kieran before she moves in.”

  “Well, if Kieran is happy to help then that should be fine,” agreed Lucy. “Zoe, why don’t we look after the little kangaroo tonight and we’ll see how you get on?”

  “Yay!” Zoe cried, jumping up and down and causing Kiki to flap her wings.

  Zoe went over to the joey and gently stroked her velvety fur. “Don’t worry, little one,” she whispered. “We’re going to take such good care of you.”

  “And speaking of which,” Great-Uncle Horace said, “it’s time for dinner!”

  While Lucy put Meep’s food in his bowl and made a salad to go with the pizza, Great-Uncle Horace carefully lifted the little kangaroo from the pouch and placed her on the floor. Her bright eyes widened as she looked all around.

  “Aw, she’s so cute!” said Zoe, as the baby kangaroo hopped across the floor. She looked interested in everything!

  Great-Uncle Horace took a pack from his bag and tipped some leaves and grass from it on to a plate.

  “Dinner is served!” he said grandly, placing the plate on the floor in front of the joey.

  The kangaroo began eating eagerly.

  “That grass doesn’t look very tasty to me!” Zoe exclaimed, wrinkling her nose.

  Great-Uncle Horace smiled. “Grass and leaves are as delicious to a kangaroo as pizza is to you … and banana is to Meep,” he added, smiling as Meep stuffed a banana in his mouth.

  Zoe smiled. She couldn’t wait to help look after the baby kangaroo!

  Later that night Zoe carefully hung the pouch on the end of her bed. Her mum had said she could look after the kangaroo in her room – and Zoe had promised not to stay up too late playing with her! Zoe couldn’t wait to chat to the kangaroo and find out all about her.

  “What’s your name?” she asked softly as she tucked the joey into the pouch.

  The kangaroo gave a little whimper.

  “Your mum called you Bouncer?” Zoe said.

  “Hello, Bouncer!” Meep exclaimed, jumping on the bed excitedly.

  “Hello, Bouncer,” Zoe said. “Welcome to the Rescue Zoo.” She noticed that the joey looked very sad. “I’m really sorry you lost your mum,” she whispered, stroking the kangaroo’s silky head. “But there are lots of lovely animals to keep you company here at the zoo. You’re going to meet lots of wonderful new friends. There are even some grown-up kangaroos for you to meet!”

  Bouncer looked happier and snuggled down into her pouch. Zoe started rocking her gently, to help soothe her off to sleep. Zoe had done so many fun jobs at the zoo, but she felt sure that being a kangaroo’s mum was going to be one of the best ever!

  At school the next day Zoe couldn’t wait to tell her friends all about the new arrival.

  “A baby kangaroo has come to live at the zoo,” she told them excitedly. “And we have to carry her in a pouch!”

  Zoe’s class listened as she explained how joeys live in their mothers’ pouches. “So I’m going to look after her, just like a kangaroo mum would!” she said proudly.

  “That’s so cool!” Jack exclaimed.

  “Kangaroos are very interesting animals,” Miss Hawkins said, tapping something into her computer. “Let’s see what we can learn! So… Guess how fast a kangaroo can hop,” she called out to the class.

  “Ten miles an hour?” Nicola replied.

  “No, even faster.” Miss Hawkins smiled. “Kangaroos can hop up to forty miles an hour.”

  “Wow!” Jack exclaimed. “That’s as fast as a car.”

  Zoe hoped Bouncer wasn’t going to be that fast – she’d never keep up with her!

  “But they aren’t able to walk backwards at all,” Miss Hawkins continued. “They can only hop forwards on their two hind legs and walk forwards slowly on all fours.”

  “What else can they do?” Nicola asked.

  “They have excellent hearing,” Miss Hawkins replied. “Apparently they’re able to move their ears around in all directions without moving their head.”

  “I wish I could do that,” Jack sighed, wiggling his ears with his hands.

  Zoe grinned as she thought of how Bouncer’s little ears twitched and moved about. Kieran the kangaroo keeper was looking after Bouncer during the day while Lucy was at work and Zoe was at school. Zoe couldn’t wait to see Bouncer again and carry her in the pouch!

  When they’d finished talking about fun kangaroo facts, Miss Hawkins reminded the class that it was sports day in just a few days’ time.

  “So make sure you practise over th
e weekend and don’t forget to bring your PE kits on Monday,” she said.

  Zoe was really looking forward to sports day. What with practising for her races and looking after Bouncer, she had a busy weekend ahead!

  When school finished Zoe raced out of school and over to her mum, who was waiting by the school gate. She was wearing the pouch and Bouncer’s golden-brown head was peeping out, her ears and nose twitching and her dark shiny eyes looking all around.

  “Hello, Bouncer!” Zoe exclaimed, stroking the joey on the head.

  “What a lovely name,” Lucy said. “You always come up with such good names for the animals.”

  Zoe couldn’t help grinning. She couldn’t tell her mum that the little kangaroo had told Zoe her name was Bouncer!

  “Can I wear the pouch when we get back to the zoo?” Zoe asked.

  “Of course,” Lucy replied. “But you’re going to need to take Bouncer out of her pouch, too. Great-Uncle Horace said that she needs to learn how to hop properly, so we have to take her out of her pouch each day.” Zoe skipped excitedly down the road. She couldn’t wait to carry the little kangaroo again!

  Meep was waiting for them when they got back to the Rescue Zoo, perched on top of the signpost for the gift shop. He chirruped excitedly as he jumped down on to Zoe’s shoulder. “Hurray, hurray, it’s looking after Bouncer day!”

  “I’d better get back to the hospital,” said Lucy, carefully undoing the pouch. “There’s a seal with a sore flipper who needs her medicine. You take care of Bouncer for an hour or so and then I’ll be home to make dinner.”

  “OK, Mum.” Zoe gently lifted Bouncer from the pouch. Then Lucy tied the pouch around Zoe’s waist.

  As Lucy hurried away towards the zoo hospital, Zoe placed the baby kangaroo on the footpath. “Bouncer, are you ready to go exploring?”

  Bouncer nodded her head and took a few unsteady hops.

  “Why is her hopping so wobbly?” Meep asked, putting his head on one side.