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Speaker 1: Hello, Critter Protectors.

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Speaker 2: Mister Jim here and welcome to Kids Animal Stories, a

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Speaker 2: place where there's always a mystery and adventure around every

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Speaker 2: single corner. If you love critters of all shapes and sizes,

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Speaker 2: I need you on our Critter Protector team. Join our

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Speaker 2: adventure as we learn about critters from around the world.

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Speaker 1: And in our back yards. Well, my friends, are you

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Speaker 1: ready for today's adventure? Me too, Let's go. Today's story

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Speaker 1: takes us deep in a special forest of Japan, through

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Speaker 1: an overgrown winding path, past lots of green trees and plants,

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Speaker 1: all the way to a small pond. This pond isn't

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Speaker 1: full of mucky seaweed, and it's not too shallow that

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Speaker 1: the sun has warmed it up. This pond is very

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Speaker 1: deep for a pond, and it has a very nice,

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Speaker 1: cool and refreshing water in it. How about your wondering

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Speaker 1: why I'm telling you all this, Well, today's critter is

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Speaker 1: a Japanese fire belly neot and this little pond is

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Speaker 1: her home. It was a bright morning and a Connie

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Speaker 1: was scurrying around her pond looking for some breakfast. She

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Speaker 1: loved eating worms and small shrimp slim pickens. Today I guessed,

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Speaker 1: Connie thought, as she looked around under the water.

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Speaker 3: I might just have to check this short today.

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Speaker 1: After all, A Connie, like all fire bellynuts, liked spending

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Speaker 1: her days in the water. She could get out if

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Speaker 1: she needed to, but it wasn't something she did all

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Speaker 1: the time. Connie moved her forward legs and tailed back

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Speaker 1: and forth through the water. She looked a lot like

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Speaker 1: a small lizard, but there was no denying she was

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Speaker 1: in fact a fire belly newt. When you saw her

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Speaker 1: brightly colored belly, her underside looked like dancing flames of

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Speaker 1: fire with reddish orange. This color was like a warning

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Speaker 1: to all I'm a fire belly newt, don't eat me well.

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Speaker 1: As a Connie headed towards the shore, she started thinking

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Speaker 1: about how it was almost spring. She would be laying

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Speaker 1: eggs soon, which was a super big job. As she

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Speaker 1: climbed up the shore, she spotted some worms quicker than

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Speaker 1: she thought she would. Um, as does what I was

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Speaker 1: in that mode for, she said to herself, as she

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Speaker 1: ate and ate until she was very full. After breakfast,

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Speaker 1: A Khanie decided to stay on the shore for a

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Speaker 1: little while. Even though it was a rare thing. To

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Speaker 1: be out of the water. She kind of liked the

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Speaker 1: fresh air and new scenery. She wandered a little further

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Speaker 1: towards some very interesting plants and then heard startling and

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Speaker 1: very strange sound, peck beck peck, peck, peck beck. A

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Speaker 1: Khannie looked all around her and couldn't seem to figure

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Speaker 1: out the sound. Then right in front of her, a

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Speaker 1: tnormous bird swooped down. She fairly caught a glimpse a

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Speaker 1: bit before it was out of sight and the sound

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Speaker 1: of pecking returned. Birds are very scary for a critter,

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Speaker 1: like a Japanese fire belly neot. They are pointy beaks.

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Speaker 1: As a Khannie looked high up in the trees, she

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Speaker 1: finally saw it. Ah uh, there it is, she said,

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Speaker 1: high above in a big tall tree with a Japanese

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Speaker 1: pigmy woodpecker. It was working very hard pecking away at

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Speaker 1: a tree, and it must have seen a Kannie but

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Speaker 1: then realized what she was before flying back up to

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Speaker 1: its tree. Connie was so relieved she had something to

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Speaker 1: protect herself from predators. Connie's bright design was a sign

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Speaker 1: to critters like that bird. A Connie's best defense mechanism

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Speaker 1: was her toxins. Predators in her area knew that she

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Speaker 1: was poisonous. Yes, she had poisoned all over her skin,

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Speaker 1: so that if a predator ate, they would be in

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Speaker 1: some serious trouble. Yeah. I think that's enough excitement for now, though,

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Speaker 1: a Connie said, and started heading back towards the water's edge.

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Speaker 1: She walked a little.

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Speaker 3: Way split splait, splat in the mud.

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Speaker 1: But not a minute went by before she heard another sound,

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Speaker 1: But this time it was another new just ahead. Hey there,

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Speaker 1: it's beautiful weather today, isn't it, said the newt.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it sure is. I just enjoy the fresh air

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Speaker 3: before I head back to the water.

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Speaker 1: Connie said me too, Me too. Yep, it will be

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Speaker 1: egg laying season soon. I'll be too busy when that

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Speaker 1: starts to stop and relax.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, you're right about that.

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Speaker 1: We'll have a great season. Oh maybe I'll see you

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Speaker 1: around with that. Kannie slipped back into the water and

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Speaker 1: started to think a bit more. Hah, spray, it's pretty close.

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Speaker 1: I guess you need to start planning. Every spring. Starting

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Speaker 1: in April, Japanese fire belly newts start laying their eggs.

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Speaker 1: They lay almost one hundred eggs by the time midsummer

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Speaker 1: rolls around only smokes a hundred eggs.

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Speaker 3: That's gonna make a lot of babies. It's probably about

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Speaker 3: time that I start preparing for the springtime.

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Speaker 1: A Connie thought. She swam all over her area of

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Speaker 1: the pond. She looked around the edges of the shore. Hmmm,

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Speaker 1: the deep clear bottom, uh, near rocks, near shallow sandy patches,

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Speaker 1: and then she realized she had a really really big problem.

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Speaker 1: Wait a second, a problem? What kind of problem is

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Speaker 1: that Connie thinking about? I'm not sure. Well, will she

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Speaker 1: be able to lay her eggs in time after all?

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Speaker 1: Or is there something else strong? I'm not sure, my friends,

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Speaker 1: but we're gonna have to wait and see what happens

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Speaker 1: with this Japanese fire belly Newt on our next adventure

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Speaker 1: of Kids Animal Stories. Hey, great job, you listened all

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Speaker 1: the way to the end. Have you ever wondered about

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Speaker 1: becoming a critter protector in what that means? Yeah? Down

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Speaker 1: in the show nuts below, there's a link where you

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Speaker 1: can check out our critter queue. You see, it's not

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Speaker 1: only important to learn a lot about critters like we

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Speaker 1: do in our stories, but it's also important to do

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Speaker 1: something in our yard or an area near where we live,

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Speaker 1: and so that might mean cleaning out a water source,

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Speaker 1: planting a berry bush or a tree that could be

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Speaker 1: a critter's home one day. As critter protectors, it's our

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Speaker 1: job to protect the habitats that our critters live in,

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Speaker 1: both around the world and in our backyards. And have

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Speaker 1: you heard that we are starting our very first book.

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Speaker 1: Well right now, down in the show nuts below, you

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Speaker 1: can pre order your very first Mister Jim book. I'm

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Speaker 1: so excited to share our very first hardcover book with

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Speaker 1: you that you can read at home, So make sure

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Speaker 1: that your parents know about Mister Jim's first book. All

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Speaker 1: the information is down in the show notes below. I'll

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Speaker 1: see you on our next adventure. Bye,