Chapter 5
It was Wednesday morning when the Magic School Safari Van crossed from the grasslands into the area they would stay on the brief layover of their field trip, and Ms. Frizzle's class had been sleeping on the bus during the night that they had traveled. However, they wouldn't need to wait for long as Ms. Frizzle took an alarm clock that rang like a large bell.
"Wake up, class! We're here!" she called in a singsong voice.
The kids stirred and looked out the bus-van's windows and saw that they were now in a vast, forested land. Trees grew around them as high as towers, small shrubs and flowers dotted the ground, and there were bamboo groves around them as well.
"Where are we?" wondered Keesha as she looked around the area, her eyes wide with wonder.
The class peered around at the enormous trees and the blooming flowers that dotted the ground. They had never seen such a splendid sight since their field trip began, and Ralphie was the first to ask, "What is this place, Ms. Frizzle?"
The red-haired educator smiled and said, "Welcome to the rainforests of equatorial Africa, Ralphie. We now stand in another example of nature's unique environments, and we'll be seeing some of the most amazing animal activity there is to find here."
"And then we'll return to the savannah to see more animals, Ms. Frizzle?" inquired Phoebe sweetly.
The Friz only smiled and winked, which assured the class that their field trip was far from over. With that, she drove the Magic School Safari Van further into the rainforest while the class looked around for any signs of animal life. Then when they stopped at the base of a large iroko tree, Ms. Frizzle pulled a lever on the bus dashboard and announced, "Okay, class. Let's suit up and get ready to swing!"
A few minutes later, the class was dressed in gorilla suits that were designed to function as if they were real gorillas. Then with Liz on her shoulder, the Friz hopped on all fours and called, "Follow me, class. Single file, please."
And with that, Ms. Frizzle's students followed their teacher on all fours, which was surprisingly easy thanks to their gorilla suits. They went on this walk for a number of minutes until they followed Ms. Frizzle up into the trees. From there, Ms. Frizzle and her class began jumping and swinging from one tree to the next as if they were on the monkey bars of the school playground back in the States. While they were doing so, the class noticed a few monkeys with black fur streaked with white and more white fur on their faces. Ralphie managed to snap a few photos before stowing his camera in his suit again, and then he asked, "What sort of monkeys are these, Ms. Frizzle?"
"Colobus monkeys, if I'm not mistaken," replied the Friz. "These little fellows are expert seed spreaders."
That made Dorothy Ann's pigtails nearly jump up in surprise and she wondered, "You mean these monkeys help pollinate plants in this part of the world?"
Ms. Frizzle grinned and replied, "Exactly, D.A. Colobus monkeys can do for the African rainforests what hummingbirds and bees can do for plants back home."
When the class was back on the ground, Ms. Frizzle led the class further into the dense forest until they found a curious collection of leaves that had been bundled together like birds' nests. What's more, it looked as though these peculiar dwellings had been lived in. Wanda said, "Huh. I've never seen nests like these before."
"We're on the right track, class," Ms. Frizzle said mysteriously. "Just follow me."
And so they went further for another fifteen minutes until they suddenly stopped in another grove. There they found the next African animal to check off the list: gorillas. The class could see some gorillas with brownish fur and some with black fur, some picking fruit from the higher branches of the trees. There were also baby gorillas clinging to the backs of their mothers, enjoying the rides they took while their fathers stayed on the watch for danger.
The class was thrilled to catch this rare and impressive sighting, but they were admittedly nervous about their chances of being spotted. Tim gulped, "What if they notice we're not real gorillas?"
Ms. Frizzle chuckled and replied, "Not to worry, Tim. As we wear these gorilla suits, we should be perfectly safe. Now let's scope out the secrets of gorilla socialization, shall we?"
With that, she led her students in a direction past the gorilla nest and for a brief moment, the class was certain that nothing could possibly go wrong. However, that changed when they found themselves surrounded by the gorilla troop, who were watching them from up in the trees. The class huddled together as the apes scaled the trees down to the forest floor and approached them.
"We never got surrounded by gorillas at my old school," gulped Phoebe nervously.
"Stay still, guys," whispered Ralphie. "They may not attack."
"I knew I should have stayed home today," moaned Arnold.
But the gorillas made no move to attack. Instead, they approached the class and sniffed them. They wondered what the kids were. Then after a moment, the class felt the apes gently scratching the heads and backs of their gorilla suits. They couldn't help feeling tickled by this activity and Wanda wondered, "Is this how gorillas keep each other clean, Ms. Frizzle?"
"Mm-hm. It's called social grooming," explained the Friz.
The gorillas suddenly paused in their social grooming when the largest of their group; a big, burly male with silver-gray fur running over his back amid his dark pelt, lumbered into the clearing. The class watched in amazement as the huge ape approached Ms. Frizzle, gave a few sniffs, and then did the same with the kids.
"Does this gorilla seem more curious than the others?" wondered Keesha.
"Actually, Keesha, he's checking to see if we are friends or foe," explained the Friz. "It's part of his job. He's the silverback of this gorilla family, which means he's the gorilla in charge of the whole group."
The class thought this was cool, so they merely sat there and waited until the silverback gorilla made sure that they were friendly. Then they followed the gorillas to a grove of fruit trees, where the apes got to work picking berries, bananas, and mangoes for their meal while others selected the most delectable shoots from the trees, and the baby gorillas were fed from their mothers' hands.
The kids were hoping to see some more of the gorillas, but soon Ms. Frizzle said it was time for them to move on. She assured them, "We'll see some of the gorilla's relatives very soon, class. Don't you worry."
The class kept a lookout for any other ape relatives as Ms. Frizzle drove them along. They passed through several small clearings and along a long ridge overlooking as much of the forest as they could see for a few miles. Then as Ms. Frizzle led her students on another walk through the forest, something that looked like a gorilla jumped down from the trees and landed in front of them. Keesha blinked curiously at the creature and said to Ms. Frizzle, "I thought we were going to see something other than just gorillas, Ms. Frizzle. I don't see how…"
Phoebe noticed the rounded shape of the simian's head and said, "Except it doesn't look like a gorilla. It looks more like a monkey."
Tim drew a sketch of the creature and after finishing it, he recognized what it was. "Hey! It's a chimpanzee!"
The chimp drew near to the class and paused for a moment before it turned and cantered away. Ms. Frizzle led her class along at a slow pace and soon, they found where the chimpanzee had gone and were met with a great surprise. A whole troop of chimpanzees was in the next grove, and they were on the move just as Ms. Frizzle and her class arrived.
"Follow me, class! It's four o' clock foraging time!" cheered the Friz.
With that, the class followed the chimps to a grove of fruit trees encircling a curious formation of rocks that looked like tall, thin chimneys. Some of the chimps began picking berries, bananas, and mangoes for their meal while others crowded around the rock formations with twigs in hand.
"What are those weird rocks?" wondered Arnold.
"Oh, they're not rocks at all, Arnold," said Ms. Frizzle with a smile. "They're termite mounds."
"Termites?" yelped the class. They wanted to keep as far away from the insects as possible, but they wouldn't need to move away. Ms. Frizzle handed each student a set of binoculars and together they watched as the chimps had a go at catching their meal. The chimps were poking their twigs into the entrances of the termite mound, and for most of them, they received two or three termites with each poke and ate happily before fishing for more.
"Check this out!" said Wanda. "It's like a fishing event, only no lines needed and no water!"
Ralphie snapped his fingers and said to Phoebe, "This is one of the points we wrote down for our project two days ago, Phoebe! Chimps and gorillas and other primates use tools to get their food, similar to how we get our food!"
Ms. Frizzle beamed at the boy and chortled, "Excellent observation, Ralphie! Primates are among the most intelligent non-human lifeforms on Earth. They have thumbs like we do, have keen eyesight to seek out food, and are capable of using tools with just the simplest objects in their natural habitats."
The class spent the next hour of the afternoon among the chimpanzees, observing how the females cared for the young, how the males kept on the watch for danger, and even watching some of the baby chimps at play. Suddenly, there came a hooting call from one of the male chimps and in moments, the whole troop jumped to the branches nearest to the ground. Ms. Frizzle's class was startled by how quickly the chimps went from having fun to running for their lives.
"What's happening?" cried Carlos.
Before anyone could answer, a bird's call split the air, and Liz ducked into Ms. Frizzle's hairdo to hide. The students looked up into the sky and saw a large, hawk-like bird with feathers on its head resembling a king's crown. Arnold was the first to notice it and he asked fearfully, "Is it a hawk, Ms. Frizzle?"
"Not quite, Arnold," replied Ms. Frizzle. "This is another prestigious bird of prey: a crowned eagle. This bird is so strong he can snatch a full-grown monkey from a tree at high speed."
Dorothy Ann had a sudden realization and she said, "I get it! The chimps were trying to get to an area where the eagle would have to slow down to avoid getting hurt if it tried to catch one of them."
"That's right, D.A.," replied the Friz warmly. "As my bird-watching great-uncle E. Gill used to say, 'A smart bird stays high as an elephant's eye.'" She chuckled and added, "He was always trying to keep the crows out of his cornfields back home."
The crowned eagle flew away to find its meal elsewhere while Ms. Frizzle and her students stayed watching the chimpanzees until it was time to move on to the next animal sighting. It was nearly evening when the Magic School Safari Van passed by a grove of fruit trees, and Ralphie wondered, "Isn't there something else to see before we head back to the grasslands?"
Ms. Frizzle hushed him gently and said, "We must be cautious here, class. Bothered baboons can bluster quite badly."
The kids had no idea what Ms. Frizzle was talking about, but they soon found out when Tim pointed to the right and warned his friends to stay quiet. There in the trees was a troop of yellow baboons, most of which were females with several males among them. They appeared to be settling into their home as the sun continued its descent.
"Wow!" Phoebe said softly. "I've never seen so many baboons in one place- not even at the zoo!"
"Baboons are among the most social non-human species, Phoebe," smiled Ms. Frizzle. "In their troops, social gathering is a necessity for survival. Travel together, eat together, protect together. It's one of the unique ways that animal life thrives out here."
While the Friz was saying this, Ralphie managed to snap a few pictures of the baboons with his camera while Tim was busy drawing a baboon in his notepad. The class was back in the Serengeti before nightfall, and the excitement wasn't over. The next day would bring another batch of incredible surprises for them.
A/N: How was Chapter 5, folks? Feel free to leave a review if you like, and keep a lookout for Chapter 6, 'cause some more unique critters will show up along with another famous predator of the African plains! Enjoy!