Speaker 1: Yeah, Hello, My name's Josephine and this is the Animal
Tales podcast, where you suggest the animals featured in our stories.
There are new tales to enjoy every Monday and Wednesday,
with a third premium only story every Friday. Please continue
to share Animal Tales with your friends and leave us
reviews where you can. Or Anne is from Perth in
Australia and he is asked for a story featuring a
flea and a tick. You can learn more about these
creatures in the animal facts after the story. Okay, are
you ready? That's good, then I'll begin jump and scratch.
Somewhere on the back end of a large hairy dog,
Richard was enjoying an afternoon nap. Richard was a tick,
a very small kind of creature that is related to spiders,
but ticks don't spin webs or catch flies, although they
do have plenty of legs, and this particular tick used
his legs to crawl around on the back of this
particular hairy dog. As far as Richard was concerned, he
could not have picked a better dog. It lived in
a cozy house, spent its evenings in front of a
warm fire, and best of all, its owners rarely gave
it a bath, which meant that Richard could relax amongst
the dog's shaggy coat, knowing he was unlikely to be
troubled by anyone or anything. He was awoken from his
nap when he felt the dog get to its feet
and give a shake. Richard always had two of his
legs holding on to a hair just in case a
shake happened. After all, he didn't want to be thrown
from his home. It was around this time of day
that the dog would go for its walk. The first
time the dog had done this, Richard had climbed to
the top of a hare to see where they were going.
The tick found the hugeness of what he could see
beyond the dog very confusing. He didn't understand where they
were going or why, especially when they always ended up
right back where they started. Consequently, Richard never climbed up again.
He much preferred it deep down within the fur. Although
he couldn't see from amongst the hair, he could still
hear the traffic and bird song or like to day,
when his dog met another Sometimes this was accompanied by barking,
but more often than not he'd hear the snuffling sniffs
of the the other dog's nose as it passed by
somewhere overhead. Richard took no notice of these other dogs.
Everything he needed was right here on his own dog.
He didn't need to concern himself with them. As always.
The sniffing soon stopped, and his dog carried on its journey. Hey, there,
said a cheery voice. Hello. It took a moment for
Richard to realize that the voice wasn't coming from somewhere
beyond the dog, but from somewhere much much closer. He
looked up. Clinging to one of the hares was one
of the most cheerful looking creatures the tick had ever seen.
The little animal was waving at him. Nice place you've
got here, said the newcomer, and I'd like it to
stay that way, replied Richard rudely, so kindly be on
your way, whoever you are. I'm or Anne, said the creature,
still smiling. I'm a flea. I don't care if you're
a kangaroo, snapped Richard. This is my dog and you're
not welcome. Ha It's funny you should say kangaroo, said
or Anne. I can jump just like a kangaroo can.
In fact, for my size I'm probably the best at
jumping on the entire planet. I'm not interested in your jumping,
said Richard grouchily. And I certainly have no idea what
a planet is, nor do I care to learn. Now,
be gone, be off with you. But the flea, instead
of leaving, climbed down the hair a little further. You
don't know what the planet is, asked the flea. Are
you joking? I most certainly am not joking, insisted I
don't joke. I'm a very serious tick. But how can
you not know what the planet is? Asked or am
the flea? It's like everything, it's where you live. No,
it's not, said Richard, dismissing the comment with a wave
of one of his legs. This dog is where I live,
and it's the only place I want to live. I
rather like living on this dog, and I intend to
do it forever, Thank you very much. But what about
all the other dogs? Asked or An They're all so different.
Don't you want to experience how different living on another
dog could be? No, thank you, said Richard sniffily. My
dog suits me just fine. And what about other animals?
There are cats and cows and rats and mice? Are
kowala's and wallabies and wombats and bandicoots. Don't you want
to know what they're like? No, no, I do not,
said Richard crossly. I have everything I need right here. Wow,
said or An in disbelief. I've never met anyone quite
like you before. Richard was quiet for a moment. What
do you mean by that? Well, lah, I don't want
to sound rude, but well, you're not very adventurous, are you,
said the flea as nicely as he could manage. I
am too protested the tick. I'll have you know I
once went all the way to the dog's ear and back.
Or An dropped down onto the dog's flaky skin and
looked around. Yeah, but that's still the same dog. Doesn't
this view get, you know, a bit boring? He gave
the dog's skin a poke. The pair of them suddenly
lurched sideways as the dog abruptly changed its position. Hold
on tight bellowed Richard, suddenly wrapping all his legs around
the hair he was holding. Or Anne had just enough
time to copy him before a giant claw raked through
the hair, once, twice and for a third time. WHOA,
that was more like it? Laughed Oran. That was much
more exciting. No it wasn't, replied Richard angrily. You caused
that scratching with all your poking about. I'll thank you
not to repeat that sort of behavior. I could have
been knocked off my home. You really are quite comfortable
on your dog, aren't you, said Oran gently. I'm sorry
if I gave you a scare. In fact, I'm sorry
to have bothered you. I'll head back to the surface
and jump on to the first creature I see. Wait,
said Richard suddenly, I mean, just a moment before you go.
Were you telling the truth when you say you've been
on more than one dog? Ah, I've ridden on hundreds,
said or An proudly. Sometimes I hang around for a while,
but usually I bounced straight off onto another one. And
did you mean it when you say you've been on
animals that aren't dogs? Asked the tick, Of course, laughed
the flea. I hitched a ride on a bat once.
That was the maddest night of my life. Ended up
hung upside down under a bridge. Richard looked terrified. But why,
he asked, Why, repeated Oram Because there's so much to
experience out there, so much to see, to hear, to smell,
to touch. It's all so big and so amazing. That's
what terrifies me, sniffed Richard. Everything so enormous. I used
to think like that, said the flea. When you're as
small as we are, everything is a giant. But when
I learned just how gigantic the planet is, well, even
this dog we're on is tiny in comparison. There you
go again, talking about a planet. Is that another animal?
Asked Richard. Or An laughed, Not even close, he said.
A planet is where we all live, every animal. More.
You can think of every human, every tree, every object,
all lives on the planet. Wow, said Richard quietly. His
tiny brain was working very hard to imagine such a
colossal thing. And you say that even my dog is
tiny on this planet you're talking about it's titchy teeny weeny,
itsy bitsy, laughed or Anne. If it were a flea
living on a flea that had a flea, it still
wouldn't be as small as a dog living on a planet. Wow,
said Richard. Again, impressive, isn't it, said or Anne. And
because the planet is so big, it's very different. The
further you travel, I want to see as much of
it as possible. In fact, I'm even thinking I might
visit Africa next. They've got some amazing animals. I'd like
to take a ride on Africa, repeated Richard. Is that
where the kangaroos live? No, that's Australia. You're already in Australia,
although I guess from your point of view you're from
a dog that lives in a small part of Perth,
which is in Australia. Australia is massive, though, but not
as big as the planet, asked Richard. That's right, you're
catching on, said or An. Africa is like a whole
other Australia, but with different people and places and animals.
They've got cats bigger than dogs, and these creatures called
elephants that would take you a week to walk all
the way from nose to tail. And you're going to
go there, said Richard. That's right. I'll jump about from
animal to until I find one heading in that direction,
and then bam, I'll be experiencing a whole new country.
Or Anne was extremely enthusiastic, so much so that for
the first time in his life, Richard was experiencing a
feeling he'd never had before. I never realized there was
so much out there beyond my dog. Richard whispered, I
must have missed so much. It's never too late to start,
said or An. You could come with me. We can
see the planet together. But you're a flea. You can
jump from animal to animal, said Richard. I'm just a tick,
and we can't jump at all. I wouldn't even be
able to get off of my dog. Of course you can,
smiled or Anne. My legs are strong enough to carry
both of us us. If you're serious, we could leave
right now. I've already told you I'm serious, smiled Richard.
I'm a very serious tick. Let's do it, and so
the two tiny animals climbed on to the surface of
the dog's shaggy coat. The bright sunlight was dazzling at first,
and it took a moment for Richard's eyes to adjust,
But once he had, he began to realize just how
much he'd been missing. He'd never bothered to understand what
was beyond his dog, but now he gazed up at trees,
passing people, and towering buildings. Far above him. He could
see white clouds drifting underneath a pale blue sky. Now's
our chance, said or An. There's a cockatoo on a
branch up ahead that I think I can reach. Come on,
hold on tight. Richard made sure to do exactly that.
He had just enough time to look along his dogs
long back towards the distant head. It all looked so
far away, but compared to the jump he was about
to make, it was nothing. Here we go, said or
An suddenly, and they jumped. What followed was the most
astounding few hours of Richard's life. The cocker tooo had
flown to a tree, where Oran transferred them both to
a cuoko barre. This had flown them over the houses
to where they jumped on to a brush tailed possum.
Then it was on to a rainbow lur keat until
it stopped to rest upon a fence. Where are we
asked Richard. He trembled nervously at first, but the wonder
of the wider world had won him over. Now he
just couldn't get enough of it. All over there, that's
an airport, said or Anne. They've got these giant machines
that fly to other countries. I think we should try
to get on board one of those. There's bound to
be something we can catch a ride on, even if
it has to be a human. A roaring noise overhead
made them look up in time to see a plane
about to land. Hey, what's happening to the sky, asked Richard.
It's changed color? And what are those dots of light? Ah?
That said or Anne, almost sounding guilty. You know I
said that the planet was everything, Yes, nodded Richard. The
biggest thing I could imagine, Well, out there is the universe,
grinned or Anne. And you're not going to believe how
big that is. Animals fat ticks are just a few
millimeters that's not even a quarter of an inch in size.
Because they can't jump, they use a technique called questing.
This involves climbing up onto objects such as a blade
of grass, and extending some of their legs outwards, waiting
for an animal to brush past. Fleas are a miniature
insect about the same size as a tick. There are
over two and a half thousand different species of flea,
and some of them are amazing at leaping, reaching over
one hundred times their own body length in distance and
fifty times in height. Thank you for your excellent suggestion,
or Anne, we hope you enjoyed the tale, and thank
you to all of you across the world for listening
to it. Remember, if you prefer your stories adverts free,
then please consider our premium service through Apple or Supercast.
For a tiny fee, the stories are advert free. Join
us next time for another great animal tale. Good Bye,