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Billy goes to the zoo

Billy loves animals because they look so cool in the books, and they are interesting to learn about, but he has seen none in real life. Billy lives in the Atacama Desert, where harsh conditions are not ideal for animals to survive.

Billy buys a plane ticket to Africa to visit a zoo and finally see the animals he has only ever read about in books. When Billy arrives in Africa, he takes a taxi to his hotel and gets a good night's sleep. Billy is excited to see the animals and hardly sleeps at all. The following morning, Billy takes a taxi to the zoo.

Billy sees the monkeys first. Many monkeys are swinging from trees, and a few are picking fleas from their babies. It is called "social grooming". They are helping each other stay healthy and comfortable by removing bugs from one another, in the form of lice, ticks, and fleas.

Then Billy goes to see the Grévy's zebras. They look just like horses, but with black and white stripes. They were named after a former king of France, Jules Grévy. He was gifted a zebra from the king of Abyssinia in 1882, now known as Ethiopia. The Grévy's zebras are classified as Endangered. Over the years, the numbers have severely decreased because of many reasons, from habitat loss and competing with other grazers to sadly being hunted for their skin.

Billy goes to see the lions next. The lions are beautiful, but also very scary. One lion roars, and it was so loud that some of the other animals in the zoo reacted in fear. Spending up to 20 hours of the day sleeping or resting lions is the laziest of the big cats.

Then Billy goes to see the giraffes next. They are very tall with brown spots. The giraffes do nothing interesting. They are just walking around and eating. A giraffe's neck is too short to reach the ground.

Billy goes to see the elephants. They are very big animals and have long trunks for noses. One elephant is swimming using itstrunk as a snorkel. Elephant tusks are enlarged incisor teeth that first appear when elephants are around 2 years old.

Billy spent the entire day at the zoo looking at different animals. He can't wait to go home and show his family and friends allthe photos he took and tell them about the great time he had visiting the zoo.