Once upon a time, there was a yellow-footed tortoise named Yoko. She liked to hang out with her friends Darren the cotton-top tamarin, the yellow anaconda, and Leilah the tamandua, but she wondered what else was out in the world.

One day, Yoko decided to go on an adventure. She remembered hearing about furry creatures, tall creatures, and shelled creatures – just like her – and she wanted to find them. With that, Yoko traveled all the way to Africa!

Being a friendly tortoise, Yoko was excited to make new friends. Coming from the rainforest in South America, though, she was not quite sure what to expect in the deserts of Africa and what these different creatures would think of her…

Her first stop was with the furry little creatures that are always wearing their sunglasses and digging in the dirt: the meerkats! Just as curious as Yoko was, Hawkeye, Radar, Zelmo and Aries the slender-tailed meerkats came running up to say hello. Yoko asked, “Why are you always wearing your sunglasses and digging in the dirt?”

Aries responded, “Even though we catch our food, sometimes other animals try to catch us. Our “sunglasses” help us to see better and stay safe in the sunny Kalahari Desert.”

“And we loooove to dig! The desert is cold at night, so we sleep underground in burrows. Our sharp claws help us to dig our tunnels and also dig for some grub!” explained Zelmo.

Excited to have made some meerkat friends, Yoko was off to meet another desert creature. As she made her way to her next stop, Yoko thought about how cool it was to meet a meerkat and wondered who she would meet next….

Second stop: the tallest animals in Africa… the tallest animals in the world! Juma the reticulated giraffe was out eating some leaves when he spotted Yoko and decided to come get a closer look.

“Hi, I’m Yoko!” said the tortoise, as she approached Juma. “Why do you have so many spots and such a looooooong neck?”

“My long neck helps me to reach high up in the trees to grab leaves to eat. I do not have hands, so I use my long, black tongue to pull the leaves from the branches,” replied Juma.

Wow, thought Yoko. Living on the rainforest floor, she imagined how cool it must be to see the tops of the trees!

Juma continued, “My spots keep me cool out here in the hot desert sun and also help me hide from other animals.”

After spending some time with Juma, it was time for Yoko to move on to her final stop: the shelled creatures, just like her! For this stop, though, Yoko would have to skip over to the island of Madagascar, home of the radiated tortoise.

AC and DC, the radiated tortoises, were about to celebrate their 14^th birthday when Yoko arrived.

“Who are you?” asked AC. “You look kind of like us, but what are you?” asked DC.

“Hello, I’m Yoko the yellow-footed tortoise from the rainforest in South America,” responded Yoko. “It looks like you are having a party… can I join you?”

AC and DC looked at each other for a moment and then excitedly exclaimed, “OF COURSE, it is our birthday! We are so excited to make a new tortoise friend. Sadly, where we come from, there are not many other radiated tortoises. Our forest home has grown smaller and smaller, and humans sometimes take our friends away.”

“Well, I am excited to meet you too! Happy Birthday!” said Yoko. Yoko, along with her new friends, sang Happy Birthday to AC and DC and they all enjoyed special fruit cake.

Traveling to Africa was exciting and Yoko was so happy to make new friends and learn about life in the desert, but she was tired and missed her rainforest home. After the party, Yoko made her way back to her home in the South American Pavilion and fell asleep, dreaming happily about her adventure.

The story may be over, but we encourage you to keep learning about wildlife:

How do you tell a turtle from a tortoise?

Learn about other rainforest animals through games and activities!