Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to a special taster of our new
premium only story. We hope you like it. He yo, Hello,
I'm Josephine and this is the Animal Tales podcast, home
to over four hundred and fifty stories written just for you.
Our Friday story is especially for our premium subscribers only.
Ari is a premium member for Massachusetts U s A.
And he would like a story with a crane, a stork,
a crocodile, a frog, and a turtle. Don't forget to
listen to the animal facts after the story to learn
more about some of these creatures. For now, it's time
to sit back and get comfy, because it's time to
begin crocodile fears. Growing up in a swamp might sound
like an unpleasant place to live, but for Ari, it
was the best place in the world. Ari was a crocodile,
and he thought nothing could be better than the swamp's cool,
murky waters. You're probably imagining Ari as a huge, long crocodile,
covered in lumpy scuts and with a mouthful of enormous teeth. Well,
he wasn't quite like that, although he hoped to be
one day when he grew up. Right now, Ari wasn't
very big at all, not even as long as a
house cat, but that didn't bother him much. That was
because he was surrounded by ten brothers and sisters, all
of whom had hatched together. And then there was their mum.
Now she really was a big crocodile, and that meant
that all the other creatures of the swamp, particularly the predators,
stayed well away. It was these other animals that fascinated Ari.
As a wild animal, he had no TV to watch,
books to read, or phones or tablets to look things
up on, so the only way he was going to
learn about the world around him was to look at
it for himself. Stay close, warned his mum as he
swam to investigate a snail suspended over the water upon
a leaf, I will Ari called back, although he was
hardly listening. How could he when there was such a
bizarre animal in front of him. It had a soft,
squidgy body and a hard curling shell. A deep buzzing
sound thrumbed over his head, and Ari looked up in
time to see a dragon fly buzz past. It looked
so big and moved so strangely, darting this way and
that hovering still for a moment, then zipping away once more.
Ari couldn't help himself, creating a path through the green
surface plants as he tried to follow. Then beside a
half submerged log, the dragon fly put on a burst
of speed and disappeared from sight. That was amazing, grinned
the little crocodile, scrambling up the logs side. Perhaps from
up here he could see more strange creatures, and he
was in luck. He was being watched by a whooping crane.
The tall white bird stood knee deep in the water.
It had a long pointed beak and a red patch
on top of its head. Hi, said Ari. The whooping
crane look surprised to be spoken to er Hello, it replied,
aren't you afraid of me? Why would I be afraid,
asked the little crocodile. I don't know a thing about you.
And besides, I'm with my mum and all my brothers
and sisters. I don't see them, said the whooping crane.
Unable to hide its grin, Ari had a good view
around him from the top of the log. Worryingly, his
family were nowhere to be seen. Oh no, said Ari,
I've lost them. But said the whooping crane as it
took a step forward. I've found you. If you'd like
to hear more, please join our premium service. You can
find out how in the description. The premium service means
you can listen to all animal tell stories advert free,
get bonus stories, and we guarantee to turn your animal
suggestion into a future tale. I look forward to seeing
you there