3 The WILDES seen that You could video it We could be waiting here for a week Sloths defecate once every seven days Ring wasn't surprised his sister knew how three-toed sloths bowels worked Must be uncomfortable he said What's to stop them from pooping from where they hang The pile of dung fertilizes the kapok tree Which doesn't answer my question I'm not finished There's a tiny moth that lives in the sloth's fur It lays eggs in the dung pile When the baby moths hatch they jump back aboard the sloth Weird Symbiosis The cycle of life Let's find Mom Still not satisfied with the answer Ring followed his sister deeper into the forest He was thinking about moths symbi whatever and the cycle of life when Asia stumbled over an exposed root and fell flat on her face He laughed then helped her up and brushed her off You okay Like you care Of course I care Ring said indignantly If you broke your leg I'd have to carry you back to camp and it's miles away Asia checked the gear hanging around her neck Nothing was damaged
The AMAZON 4 This is rough ground Ring said You need to look down when you're walking Thanks for the advice Mr. Trailblazer Asia said but she knew that he was right Their mother's research platforms were high up in the trees To find the platforms they had to look for trees that had been climbed We're looking for disturbed tree trunks Asia said I know that Ring insisted Asia still didn't understand why her mother insisted on working alone She and her brother had been around animals their entire lives and could help her if she let them Dr. Jane Wilde was a world-renowned conservation biologist who spent more time in the field than she did at their home near the town of Glen Rose Texas The kids father Dr. Jack Wilde was a veterinarian and the director of a two-thousand-thousand animal park called The Wilds specializing in the conservation of rare and endangered animals The demands of managing three thousand animals kept him close to their home which was built on a high bluff overlooking the park Asia and Ring split their time between The Wilds and their mother's research sites all over the world Right now they were in the Amazon rainforest staying in a rough tented camp near the Xingu River about a hundred miles south of Altamira near where their mother had
5 The WILDES reintroduced back into the wild three separate family groups of endangered monkeys called golden lion tamarins They had barely seen their mother during the two weeks they had been there Ring squatted down to look at an endless line of ants marching through the fallen leaves Let's follow them and see where they go They don't end up anywhere Asia said They had been to Brazil twice before with their father yet unlike Asia Ring did not remember all the species they were taught about Those are Burchell's army ants Eciton burchellii They're nomadic We saw them when we were in Brazil with Dad No nests no stopping They spend their lives eating their way across the rainforest floor Same ants huh We're a long way from the jaguar preserve he took us to Same kind of ants Don't step in their path or they'll eat you Good safety tip Ring stood and backed have any idea where Mom's camp is away Do you You mean her platforms Asia said She preferred to use precise language when describing things The release sites for the golden lion tamarins were located on three platforms one hundred and fifty feet above the ground Camp platforms whatever Ring said with a shrug What do you think Professor Bob is doing right now
The AMAZON 6 Dreaming about going back to Texas You're probably right Ring agreed finishing the last of his water Their mom insisted they stay in camp doing schoolwork supervised by their tutor Professor Bob and the three camp tenders The camp crew couldn't care less about what Asia and Ring did with their time but Professor Bob was much stricter keeping them buried in their books from sunup to sunset But not today He had caught a stomach bug that had him moaning in his tent all night long When the kids awoke he was sound asleep They could finally go out on their own without him breathing down their necks I figure we've walked seven miles give or take Ring said No we haven't not with your dawdling Observing is not dawdling Do you have any water I have almost all of my water I haven't been guzzling it down like a cold Coke A cold Coke would be good right about now I'm parched A Coke does sound good Asia thought handing her water bottle to Ring He gulped down a third of it then asked Do you have any idea where we are Of course I do Asia answered a little defensively because she didn't know exactly where they were She
