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
7 The WILDES looked at her compass I know how to get back at any rate and we should start We've been gone a long time Good My legs are killing me All the reading writing and quizzes from Professor Bob have weakened me physically Asia was a little sore too but she didn't mention it Professor Bob's not a bad guy We've had worse tutors They'd had a half dozen tutors over the years Some of them had lasted only a few weeks Their short tenure was not because of Ring and Asia but because of the rough places they had to teach them I like Professor Bob okay Ring said Except he's scared to death most of the time He thinks every tree is going to fall on him and every animal is going to eat him He's like the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz Every insect does eat him Asia pointed out That's one of his best traits Ring said I've hardly had an insect bite since we got here He's a walking bug zapper Asia took a photo of an iridescent blue butterfly resting on a blood-red flower The butterfly fluttered over to Ring and landed on his forearm Asia took another photo That tickles Ring said What's it doing Drinking your sweat for salt with its proboscis He can have as much of my sweat as he wants I have plenty It could be a female
The AMAZON 8 Well she can have all she wants Ring looked up at the It'll be dark soon canopy We better put on our headlamps You did bring your headlamp right Yeah yeah yeah and I charged it too How far are we An hour and a half Maybe more away Maybe we'll see that sloth come down to do its business Maybe Asia sighed and changed the subject to what was really on her mind I wish we'd found Mom She wouldn't have liked it if we had found her Ring said She told us to stay in camp I think she forgets she has children when she's working in the field Ring had been born in Madagascar with a troop of ring-tail lemurs bounding through the trees above his mother's tent Asia had been born in Mongolia with a reintroduced herd of saiga antelope grazing outside her mother's yurt At least she lets us tag along Some of the time Asia stopped Do you ever wish we had a normal life You mean going to a regular school with a spring break winter break and summer break With a mom and dad breathing down our necks bumping into us twenty-four-seven twenty-four-seven in the little residential box we'd call a home The only animals we see being dogs and cats and maybe a
