"Amazing Animals"
Reading Lesson

Key Words

Below you will find a list of key vocabulary you need to know to understand the lesson. Click on each word to hear it and practice its pronunciation.

amazing: very surprising or impressive
talented: having a natural ability to do something well
surf: to ride waves on a board
dye: to change the color of something
fur: the hair that covers an animal’s body
tiny: very small
reward: to give something good for doing something right
award: a prize given for doing something well
harmonious: pleasant to hear; sounding good together
tap: to hit lightly
tip: extra money given for good service
budding: beginning to develop or improve
enclosure: a closed area where animals are kept
self-portrait: a picture someone takes of themselves
encourage: to support or help something continue
behavior: the way a person or animal acts
trick: an action an animal is trained to do
command: an order telling someone or an animal what to do
paw: the foot of an animal
hind: the back part of an animal’s body

Practice - Key Words

Read the definition and select the word that was defined.

Reading

Amazing Animals

Animals can do the most amazing things. Check out these stories of five very talented animals.

Surfing Mice

Shane Willmott of Australia taught his three pet mice to surf. First, he taught them to swim in the bathtub. Then, he made tiny surfboards and taught them to surf in his swimming pool. Now, they surf at the beach. He dyes their fur to make them easy to find in the water if they fall off their boards. It's easy to lose a tiny mouse in a big ocean.

Rock Cats

Samantha Martin of Chicago trained her cats to play musical instruments. One plays the piano, another plays the guitar, and another plays the drums. She trained them by rewarding them with a little bite of chicken every time they made a sound using the instrument. They won't be winning any music awards, however. They can make sounds on the instruments but it's not very harmonious. At the end of their "concert," one of the cats even taps the tip jar to encourage the audience to drop some money in.

cats

Smart Parrot

One day Yoshio Nakamura of Japan took his parrot Yosuke out for some fresh air. Yoshio panicked when Yosuke flew away and was lost for three days. Fortunately, Yosuke was a very smart bird. After getting lost, the parrot was able to tell rescuers his name and address so that they could take him home. His owner was very excited because he thought that he would never see him again. He was very happy that he had taught the parrot to say his name and address.

Orangutan Photographer

Nonja the orangutan was given a camera as a toy and now is a budding photographer. He takes pictures of the other orangutans in his enclosure in the Vienna zoo and even takes self-portraits. Zookeepers have posted Nonja's pictures online and now she even has a Facebook page. The zookeepers have encouraged the behavior by giving her a special camera. Every time she takes a picture a raisin pops out giving her a delicious reward.

Reading Dog

Lyssa Howells trained her dog Willow to read signs. First, she taught the dog to do a few tricks when she said a verbal command. Then, she tried showing a written sign while she gave the verbal command so that the dog would learn to associate the sign with the trick. Finally, she stopped giving the verbal command and only used the sign. Willow the dog now raises her paw when her owner shows the sign that says "wave," she lies down when she reads "bang," and she sits on her hind legs when she reads "sit up." She can't actually read like you and I do but she learned to recognize the shapes on the sign and associated them with the trick.

These animal stories were adapted from the book 125 True Stories of Amazing Animals by National Geographic. It's a book designed for kids but it has fascinating stories that interest adults as well.

► Listen to the reading

Questions

Instructions
Write sentences with restrictive clauses (using the word "that") to describe the animals in the article.

Animals in the Article
mice
cats
parrot
orangutan
dog

example
can read signs
*
*If the animal is plural (like "mice" and "cats"), the verb will be "were" instead of "was".

Writing

Describe a a talented animal that you know, or that you have read or heard about. What tricks can the animal do?

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