The Secret Explorers and the Plant Poachers Flashcards
1
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She couldn’t believe her eyes.
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2
Q
This was like finding a fairy at the edge of your backyard, only better.
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3
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She leaned her bike gently against a beech tree.
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4
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As she walked across the woodland clearing, she kept her gaze fixed on the tiny plant she’d spotted.
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5
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The closer she got, the more excited she became.
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6
Q
She was looking at a ghost orchid.
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7
Q
And she’d definitely never thought she would see one growing so close to her home in Oxfordshire, in the south of England.
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8
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Ghost orchids were incredibly rare and endangered.
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9
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In fact, they were so hard to find in her country that people had thought they were extinct.
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10
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She would have to keep the plant’s location a secret, so it didn’t get dug up and stolen.
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11
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After all, she already had another big secret, which none of her friends or family even suspected…
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12
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She knelt down next to the ghost orchid.
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13
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It was white and delicate.
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14
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No wonder it’s called a ghost orchid, she thought.
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15
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Unlike so many other plants, it had no green in it.
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16
Q
Green plants contained chlorophyll, the substance that turned sunlight into the energy they needed to grow.
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17
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But the little ghost orchid got its energy in quite a different way.
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18
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It sucked up nutrition from the rotting vegetation beneath it, and from the fungi growing on the beech tree roots.
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19
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That was why ghost orchids always grew in shady places.
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20
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This was the luckiest find of her life.
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21
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Ghost orchids weren’t just rare - they spent most of their lives underground.
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22
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Some of them only sent up a flower every ten years!
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23
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But it was time to check on her own plants.
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24
Q
She cycled home as fast as she could, still feeling excited about finding the ghost orchid.
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25
She skidded to a halt outside the greenhouse.
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As she reached for the door, she stopped in her tracks.
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Glowing on the glass was a compass symbol.
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Instead of the familiar greenhouse with its rows of exotic plants, she entered a strange tunnel of blinding white light.
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She passed by the huge map of the world on the floor, on which dots would light up to show them where their missions were.
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Above the map, an image of the Milky Way glittered on the domed ceiling.
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"Been up in the attic looking through old books," he explained as he brushed them off.
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Just then, a light appeared on the map on the floor.
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A shaft of light projected up from the dot, with a screen at the top.
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The screen showed a small green plant growing from the forest floor.
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It had petals with spikes at the edges, like teeth inside a set of jaws.
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"A Venus flytrap! The mission must be something to do with them."
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She crossed her fingers on both hands for luck, and wished super-hard that she would be chosen.
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Ping! Her compass badge lit up.
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She gave him a thumb-up and they grinned at one another.
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She walked over to a control console.
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"You two ready? Let's get you on your way!"
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She pulled a lever and a platform rose up from the floor.
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In the middle was a vehicle named the Beagle, after Charles Darwin's ship
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They strapped themselves in.
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A large red button on the dashboard read "START".
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Once that button was pressed, there was no going back.
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They shot forward, much faster than should have been possible.
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Blazing, brilliant light shoes all around them.
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As they zoomed faster and faster through the light, the Beagle changed its form.
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Tall trees rose up around them.
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A clean, salty smell was in her nostrils.
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They must be close to the ocean.
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"I guess we made it to North Carolina," he said with a grin.
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"Just when I thought this mission couldn't get any cooler!"
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"So what do you think our mission is?"
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Let's check out our equipment, that might give us an idea.
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She brought the Beagle to a stop.
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The Beagle made a helpful BEEP, and an arrow lit up on the dashboard, pointing backward.
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We've got water bottles, food, sunscreen, a first-aid kit, and insect repellent.
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Look at all the apps on this!
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HD camera, GPS, and communications so we can stay in touch with the others.
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A tent and some sleeping bags.
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How can we help the Venus flytraps by going camping?
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We shouldn't leave the Beagle sitting out here for anyone to find.
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But how are we meant to hide it?
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In World War II, they hid tanks in foliage so they wouldn't be spotted.
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They parked the Beagle deep inside and moved the branches around to hide it.
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Taking only the tablet and the first-aid supplies with them for now, they set off.
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High above them, white birds with long yellowish beaks were passing by.
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That means the ocean must be close, so we're in a coastal forest.
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There should be lots of amazing wildlife to spot.
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Sure enough, a little gray shape soon went sailing past overhead, gliding from one tree to another with its arms and legs spread out.
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It had flaps of skin between its limbs that looked like wings.
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A flying squirrel, they don't actually fly, though.
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They glide, using their skin flaps like parachutes.
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They crossed a weathered old bridge over a river.
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A catfish briefly swam up from the depths.
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Plants that looked as if they had tiny fanged mouths...
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He kneeled down to pier at the hinged, open leaves with their long toothlike spines.
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I thought they'd be bigger.
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They aren't man-eating monster plants from outer space!
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They're less than three inches tall.
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But they are carnivorous.
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That means they eat meat.
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But they don't look like they need our help.
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What, watch this! It's dinnertime!
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An ant had just crawled inside one of the open leafy heads.
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The ant moved ever so slightly...and the trap snapped shut.
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The spines meshed together like long fingers, closing the ant inside.
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How did it know the ant was there?
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"See those tiny hairs on the inside? They're trigger hairs," she explained.
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Touch one, and the trap gets ready to close.
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But unless one of the hairs is touched in the next twenty seconds, the trap will stay open.
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You're saying these little plants can count?
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The trigger hairs have to work like that, or else the trap would close every time something landed on it - even if it's just a raindrop or a leaf.
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This way, the plant can be sure that it's trapping an insect, because only an inset would move around and touch hairs like that.
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It means the plant doesn't waste energy trapping things it can't eat.
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What happens to the ant now?
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It gets digested, there are juices in there, a bit like the inside of a stomach.
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You know...I've seen creatures eat plants lots of times.
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But I've never seen a plant eat a creature!
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They started walking on through the forest.
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Flytraps evolved that way, they kind of had to, really.
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They couldn't get enough nutrients from the soil here, so they had to start eating insects.
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She thought of the ghost orchid back home, having to feed on fungi and rotting vegetation.
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Ahead stood a building made of wood with lots of big glass windows.
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A sign read: "North Carolina Conservation Group and Seed Bank."
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It's a conservation center, so they'll want to help the plants!
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The inside was like a laboratory, with workbenches and trays of soil filled with seedlings.
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Groups of people were tending to the plants, spraying them with water and carefully repotting them.
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They steal the flytraps from the wild and sell them, It's a terrible problem.
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One of the only places in the world where Venus flytraps grow in the wild is here in North Carolina.
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These plants are having a hard enough time as it is, since their habitat is being destroyed by people cutting down the trees.
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Give the inside of the plant's heads a little poke, to test its reaction.
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They each touched their rods to the trigger hairs inside the flower head.
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But this flytrap didn't snap shut like the one they'd seen in the forest.
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It closed slowly, as if it was worn out.
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We'll nurse it back to health.
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Then we'll replant it in the wild.
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This one was lucky - there are plenty more we can't get to in time.
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Now it was the very darkest hour of the night, just before the dawn.
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The Beagle's cool box had supplied sandwiches and drinks, and they'd munched them outside the tent.
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Now there was nothing to do but sit, and watch, and wait...
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The forest after dark was full of strange noises as the nocturnal animals went about their lives.
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He froze as something swooped past - a quick blur of shadow even darker than the surrounding forest.
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It's just a bat, It's out hunting.
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From somewhere close by came a deep croaking noice, and then another.
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Don't worry, they're just frogs.
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They're croaking at each other to say, 'this is my territory, stay away!'
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I guess the night's less scary when you know about biology.
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Later on, he even grinned when he hear a distant hooting.
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They sat for a moment and listened to the hoarse, throaty yowls the bobcats made.
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They both fell silent instantly.
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That was no animal, that was a human being!
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Her arms broke out in goosebumps.
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The cough came again.
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We should take something to record them with, just in case.
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Branches dangled in their path, and they had to duck and dodge around them.
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Thick mud squelched underfoot.
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The pair of them hunkered down and crept slowly forward, until they reached the edge of a clearing.
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A man and a woman were crouched down.
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The man held the flashlight, shining it so the woman could see what she was doing.
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She tipped it into the box and went back for another.
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"Keep that light steady!" the woman hissed angrily.
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"I nearly cut through a plant, you idiot."
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These things are worth money!
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We've got to stop them.
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Can you video them, and catch them in the act?
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There wasn't much light, but it should be enough.
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The woman grunted as she worked the shovel.
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Earth rattled as plant after plant fell into the box.
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And then the darkness seemed to come alive.
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With a grunt, something gigantic rose up to her left, and shook the undergrowth.
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And it was so close she could hear it breathing!
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"Someone's here!" the woman said.
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Every twist and turn brought them new danger, as roots threatened to trip them and thorns ripped at their clothes.
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She saw nothing but swaying branches and the darkness of the forest.
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He pulled her around, back to where the flashlight was now glimmering.
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They must be trying to outfox us!
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But without warning, the light vanished again.
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Something was blotting it out.
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A large, dark shape loomed up in front of them.
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A snuffling, grunting sound reached her ears.
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It was the animal they'd disturbed earlier!
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It's a black bear!
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The moon came out from behind a cloud and she saw the bear clearly for the first time.
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It was standing upright, at least six feet tall.
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Its hulking body was covered all over with jet-black fur.
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They had almost run right into it.
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To her relief, the bear wasn't attacking.
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It dropped down on to all fours and grubbed about in the undergrowth, making huffing noises.
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Is it going to eat us?
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If it was a grizzly bear, we'd be in big trouble.
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Black bears aren't as aggressive.
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We're in the bear's territory, and we weren't invited.
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No wonder it's in a bad mood.
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They edged through the forest, giving the bear a very wide berth.
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I don't know how we're going to get them back now, she said sadly.
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He pointed to where the eastern sky was changing from black to blue-gray.
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Look the sun's coming up.
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An army marches on its stomach, after all.
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Let's examine the footage.
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Instead of the crystal-clear evidence she had expected, there was nothing but blurry trees.
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So much for my photography skills!
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Well, he said, we historians gather evidence and use it to build up a picture of what happened in the past.
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Either I'm going crazy, or those rocks just moved!
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The rocks were definitely moving.
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Then, under the edges of the rocks, she saw eyes, little snouts, and clawed toes.
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The upper parts were banded, armored shells.
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Suddenly, she understood what she was looking at.
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They're four baby armadillos!
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They were adorable, but she knew they ought to be left alone.
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Their mother would take care of them properly.
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Wait a minute - where was their mother?
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She looked around, parting the nearby undergrowth as she searched for a bigger armadillo.
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But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find the mother.
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There weren't even any tracks.
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But these babies have lost their mother, and we need to find her first.
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They searched through the undergrowth for the mother armadillo, peering under clumps of ferns and around bushes.
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I wonder how the babies lost their mother.
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Maybe something scared them and they ran away.
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Do you think the mother armadillo can tell her babies apart?
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They all look exactly the same to me!
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Actually, they are exactly the same. Right down to their genes.
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Armadillos almost always have four identical babies.
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They're the only mammal that does.
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That's got to be the armadillo burrow.
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Hopefully, the mother is still inside!
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We need to figure out a way to lead her to the babies.
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Maybe we could make a trail of fruit?
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Great idea, except armadillos are mostly insectivores.
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That means they eat insects - just like Venus flytraps!
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Those were much more likely to have insects and grubs living inside them.
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She held out her own hands and he tipped some of the creepy-crawlies into them.
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Soon they made a bug trail between the baby armadillos and the burrow.
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They hid behind some bushes to watch and wait, keeping very still and making as little noise as possible.
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He pointed at a patch of crushed vegetation.
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Could it be an armadillo trail?
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Maybe we've got it wrong, and the mother went off in that direction.
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A fully grown armadillo was nosing her way out of the burrow.
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But would she notice the bug trail?
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The mother armadillo sniffed all around her - and gobbled up one of the bugs.
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We've got a trail of our own to follow!
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When she got close to where her babies were huddled, they scurried to meet her, squeaking excitedly.
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They bent over the squashed leaves and studied them carefully.
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The grass is flattened in this direction, see?
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Let's follow the trail!
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They mush have helped themselves to some more flytraps on the way!
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I guess they felt safe enough to steal more, once they'd shaken us off last night.
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If they hadn't been so greedy and dug up more plants, we wouldn't know for sure it was them who made this trail, would we?
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Now we know for certain that they were here, so we can try to find where they went!
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They headed farther along the path, following the crushed grass toward a little stream.
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He pointed out some thin branches on the other side of the water.
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Now put the scene together in your mind.
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It was dark, so they wouldn't have been able to see any stepping stones...so they would have had to take a blind leap...so they probably didn't see those branches at all!
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They just crashed through them and kept going.
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Isn't that a footprint?
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It looks a little weird, like it's only the front half of the foot.
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It is, because when you run, you don't bring your foot down flat, do you?
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Only the front part comes into contact with the ground.
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Well, it's a good job you spotted this print, because it means they suddenly swerved off this way, through these bushes.
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I guess the black bear from last night has a mate.
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You'd make a brilliant historian!
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There was a lot more leaf cover overhead, which meant a lot less sunlight reaching the forest floor, which meant less bracken and more patches of bare earth.
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They found the footprint trail with ease.
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A chocolate wrapper, he said. If they had time for a snack, then they weren't in a hurry anymore.
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If the trail's gone cold, then we're out of luck...
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I've got a hunch that it might have fallen out of something...or been thrown out.
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They ate the chocolate bar in their vehicle and threw the wrapper out the window.
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It was a long drive, but eventually the tire marks ended at the edge of the forest, right by a road.
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Soon they could see into the warehouse parking lots.
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The flytraps have to be inside one of these warehouses.
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We just need to find out which of those vehicles belongs to them!
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Can you run this through the computers and see what they come up with?
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They're special tires with extra deep tread.
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Only two sorts of vehicle use them.
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An ATV called a Ranger 268, or a truck called a Viper Strike.
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They drove it as close to the warehouses as they dared and then headed off-road to park.
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Staying close together, ducking behind the vehicles so they wouldn't be seen, they moved down the rows of parked cars and trucks.
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They checked each one in turn as they went, looking for a maker's insignia or a logo.
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The tires had fresh mud on them.
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The truck had a greenish, rearing snake spray-painted on one of the sides.
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The warehouse had double doors standing wide open.
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There were no windows on the ground floor, but there were some little ones high up on the wall.
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Luckily, there was a sturdy-looking tree growing close by.
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They quickly climbed up among its feathery leaves.
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The ground seemed a long way below them.
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The other two - the man and woman she'd seen the night before- were wheeling the crates out on a trolley and loading them into the cars and trucks.
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She made up her mind and edged farther along the branch.
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These all need to be boxed up tonight!
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Do you want to be the one who has to tell my buyer that half their plants are missing?
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They're planning to sell the plants tonight!
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Maybe they needed to set a trap of their own!
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Can you notify the rangers and get here as quickly as you can?
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They could drive off at any moment, and they're not going to sit and wait for us to arrive!
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Time to spring the trap.
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She held it up to the window and pressed "PLAY".
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Extraordinary sounds began to blast out of the tablet and echo around the roof.
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Snorting, growling, snuffling sounds - the sounds of a bear trampling through the undergrowth and hunting for food.
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They stopped working and looked at one another with fearful faces.
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What in the heck is that? said one of them.
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Just then, the tablet played a long rattling growl.
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One of the hinges looked like it was going to give way.
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Part of the door frame fell off and landed with a rattling clang on the ground.
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But now it looked like her plan to save the Venus flytraps was about to go horribly wrong...
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The warehouse doors buckled outward as yet another blow landed.
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You're in big trouble, kids! the woman yelled from inside.
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The ropes strained against the door handles.
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She held her breath as she saw dent after dent appear on the doors.
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They weren't built to withstand this much force, and they were old and battered.
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One of the door hinges flew off.
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The next blow would definitely smash them open.
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A blare of happy beeps rang out.
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She ran toward the approaching vehicle, just as the warehouse doors crashed to the ground.
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Then three police cars came screeching into the parking lot with their blue lights flashing.
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How could you let these two kids trick you?
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That's enough out of you, said a police officer. You're under arrest!
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There must be thousands of plants here.
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My team and I will take care of the plants at the conservation center.
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Then we'll return them to the wild when they're strong enough to survive.
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Not long after that, the two of them were kneeling on the soft forest ground, digging a series of holes with little trowels.
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She lowered it into the hole and gently slid the soil back in over the roots.
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Good luck, she whispered to it.
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Mission accomplished, she said with a happy sigh.
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The button that had read "START" now read "HOME".
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The huge chunky wheels shrank down into little wobbly ones.
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The big frame dwindled to a little metal frame held together with duct tape and string.
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In moments it was nothing but a worn-out old go-kart again.
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It almost looks like a tiny tyrannosaur mouth!
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For a few exciting seconds, bright light blazed and a strong wind roared around her.
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Then as if she had never left, she found herself standing back home outside her greenhouse.
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Her plants were all thriving.
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It made her proud to see them so healthy and well taken care of.
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They look a little strange, and they've got quite an unusual diet...
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