Outback All-Stars

by Kristin Earhart

  “Oh, I know,” Eliza murmured, her eyes squinting.

  Sage could tell Eliza was still holding a grudge. She couldn’t blame her. Team Red had slipped right past Team Purple on the final clue. Team Red had won, fair and square, but if the roles had been reversed, Sage would be annoyed, too.

  Mari had been busy braiding her hair one last time. As soon as she snapped the rubber band in place, she stood up, instantly alert. “It makes sense that we’re heading out in the dark,” she noted. “Over half of Australia’s mammals are marsupials, and most of them are active at night.”

  “They’re nocturnal. That’s the scientific word,” Eliza said. “And some are crepuscular, which means they are active both in the morning and evening.”

  The four original members of Team Red looked at one another, but Eliza didn’t notice. She was still going over vocabulary words. “But, Mari, there is one exception. The numbat is diurnal. That means it is only active during the day. It is the only Australian diurnal marsupial.”

  Mari pursed her lips and nodded. “You’re right.”

  “I know,” Eliza answered.

  Sage was relieved when she heard rustling at the front of the tent. The bearded guide from earlier poked his head inside. “Almost ready, Team Ten?” he asked.

  Sage gave the tent and her team a quick glance. “Sure thing,” she answered.

  “Of course,” Eliza said at the same time.

  Sage gave a half-hearted smile. “Is Javier coming?” she wondered, trying to look past the guide to see if their old chaperone was approaching.

  “Oh,” the bearded guide said, “Javier is paired with Season 9. I’m Jace.”

  Sage, Russell, Mari, and Dev were silent.

  “Hi, Jace,” Eliza announced, her hand extended. “I’m Eliza. I want to be the first to thank you for being our chaperone on The Wild Life: Outback All-Stars.”

  The others quickly came forward and greeted the new guide. He seemed nice enough. “Oh, and another thing,” he said. “You’re now Team Ten. We had three Team Reds and two Team Blues, so we’re numbering by season now.”

  Dev shrugged. “Ten’s a good number,” he said.

  “At least we still get to wear red,” Russell offered.

  Then Team Ten left the tent and entered the night. Out of the corner of her eye, Sage caught sight of Javier.

  The beam from Javier’s headlamp lingered on his old team for a moment. He raised his hand. Sage smiled and waved back. Only as she turned away did she spot Dallas Hughes, the newest member of Team Nine.

  Dev and Sage led the group, sharing the map so they could locate the best path to the X. They soon realized that each group must have a different destination. There were ten teams, and each one was heading down a different trail away from the tents.

  “Let’s pick up the pace,” Sage called once they had separated from the other teams. With her headlamp tilted down, she took off at a steady jog. She kept her eyes on the ground to avoid roots or rocks that could trip them up. Tree branches arched overhead, blocking any view of the moon or stars. The path was steep, but Sage pushed harder through the muggy air.

  The night seemed quiet until a low growl filled the forest.

  “What was that?” Russell asked.

  Sage didn’t know. She had never heard anything like it. She felt hundreds of goose bumps spring up on her arms and neck, but she forged ahead. “Just keep moving,” she said, suddenly aware that her heart was pounding.

  The bellow came again.

  She kept up the pace until the wide path forked into two narrow trails. “What now?” she wondered, listening for another growl.

  “This is it.” Dev was already on the ancam. “I punched in our location,” he said. “And now we’ve got our clue.” He read it out loud.

  Ursus, it is not.

  The nickname’s all wrong.

  A two-thumbed tree dweller,

  With a call more grunt than song.

  CREATURE FEATURE

  KOALA

  SCIENTIFIC NAME: Phascolarctos cinereus

  TYPE: mammal

  RANGE: southeastern Australia

  FOOD: leaves, primarily of one of many species of eucalyptus

  Part of the koala’s scientific name comes from two Greek words meaning “pouch bear.” The koala does have a pouch, but it is not closely related to bears at all. It is a marsupial, and a very fluffy, cuddly-looking one at that. Despite its sweet face, the koala can be aggressive. Male koalas are ferocious when fighting for territory.

  As with many animals, the koala’s life revolves around getting food. The koala’s favorite is eucalyptus leaves. It is an interesting choice, because eucalyptus is toxic enough to make a person sick. A koala, however, has developed an ability to digest it. While still in the pouch, the baby eats its mother’s pap. Pap is already-digested eucalyptus, and eating it makes it easier for the baby koala to one day digest the fresh leaves, too. Eucalyptus provides little energy, so the koala rests about nineteen hours a day. Of the five hours it is active, at least three are for eating more eucalyptus.

  Sage’s mind whirled as she tried to match the hints in the clue with animal facts she knew.

  “Well, that’s really easy,” Eliza declared. “As usual, I can get it from the first line. Ursus is a scientific word for bear, but the clue says that the animal is not a bear. So it’s obviously the koala. Everyone knows the koala isn’t a bear.”

  A small part of Sage wanted to point out to Eliza that the team already had a Smartie who knew everything about animals. They didn’t need her to recite facts from her encyclopedias, but Sage didn’t say anything. Eliza was on their team now. Sage would just have to figure out what else Eliza could contribute.

  When no one responded, Eliza kept going. “The koala lives in trees and has two thumbs for gripping branches. And the books say that a koala’s call is very low.”

  As if on cue, the growl they’d heard earlier once again filled the night.

  “Was that a koala?” Sage asked.

  “Well, yeah,” Eliza answered, but she didn’t look so sure.

  The call came once more, this time longer and lower. The deep snarl was followed by a gruff gulping sound.

  “It’s like half growl and half burp,” Dev said with a shudder.

  “That doesn’t sound like a koala,” Russell insisted. “It sounds like a monster that eats kids in the dark.” He glanced around, shooting his headlamp beam in all directions.

  “This isn’t a video game,” Sage reminded Russell. Yet his comment didn’t seem far off. How could a little koala make such a deep sound? She glanced at Jace. He did not look concerned. Sage assumed if they were in real danger, he’d let them know.

  “Actually, koalas have an extra voice organ that helps them make that sound,” Mari explained. “Most animals that make big, deep sounds are large, like gorillas or elephants. But the koala is special.” Mari’s voice trailed off as she slipped away from the group. She stepped off the path and gazed into the trees. The answer to the clue was clearly a koala, but they had to get a picture of one in order to move on to the next stage of the race.

  “The bellow came from back there,” Eliza said.

  Mari’s head tilted to one side as she stared upward. The trees were tall and slender with leaves to match. Sage recognized them as eucalyptus. She knew it was the favorite food of most koalas. Mari moved farther into the thick of the forest.

  Eliza stood on the edge of the path, eyeing Mari. “You do know that Australia has more venomous snakes than any other continent? You shouldn’t just wander off.”

  Mari just stood still and listened.

  “Twenty-one of the twenty-five deadliest snake species to be exact,” Eliza added. “So maybe we should stay on the path.”

  “We could do that, but I think Dev would get a better shot from here,” Mari said, gesturing toward a tree just over her head.

  “Really?” Dev questioned.

  “Really,” Mari confirmed.

&nbs
p; “Don’t let that koala go anywhere!” Dev joined Mari and aimed the ancam. The flash illuminated the deep-green canopy of trees. “Look, she has a joey in her pouch.”

  The teammates crowded together to get a peek at the tiny koala.

  Sage was amazed that Mari could have even seen the koala. Its gray fur blended in with the bark of the tree.

  The mom blinked when the light of their headlamps hit her eyes. She looked just like all of the postcards: black pebble-shaped nose, white fluff in her ears, thick claws on her double thumbs.

  “Nice work, Mari,” Sage said, feeling the same sense of awe she had during their first race together. “But that was almost too easy. It’s like they dropped us right in the middle of a koala colony. I’ll bet the other teams were lucky, too. Let’s keep moving.”

  “Here’s the next clue,” said Dev.

  High-pitched echoes

  I cannot hear.

  But I can smell food out

  With my super snout.

  Flower or fig,

  My appetite is mega-big.

  Sage was sure she could get this one. Eliza might be a know-it-all, but she was also right. The first line had a huge hint, and so did the last line.

  “They keep telling us what the animal isn’t,” Dev pointed out. “Or what it can’t do. Those are big clues.”

  “So if it can’t hear high-pitched echoes,” Russell said, “it isn’t hunting with echolocation, right? That’s when bats send out sounds and wait for the echoes to bounce back to figure out where things are. Lots of bats use it to find their insect dinners.”

  “Exactly. But it could still be a bat even if it doesn’t use echolocation,” Sage said. “And they used the word ‘mega,’ which refers to a kind of bat.”

  “Yes. It refers to the fruit bats or bats that eat fruit,” Eliza said with an exacting clip. “As you should know, mega means big, and most fruit bats are bigger than the insect eaters. They’re also called flying foxes, because their heads look a lot like—”

  “—a pirate ship,” Dev cut in. Sage smirked. She could tell he was joking, but Eliza looked surprised by the interruption.

  “Okay,” Sage said. “So we know they look like foxes. Do we all agree that we are looking for a fruit bat?”

  “Yes,” the other four members answered.

  “Has anyone seen any?” Sage asked. “Because they’re probably not going to just sit around like the koala.”

  Dev was holding up the ancam, playing with the settings. “Maybe we can catch one eating. Otherwise, we’ll need to get up higher, so we can see them in the open sky.”

  When Sage gazed above her, she could barely see beyond the reach of her arm. The leaves cloaked the forest in darkness. They had been lucky finding the koala so quickly. It wouldn’t be as easy with a bat.

  CREATURE FEATURE

  GREY-HEADED FLYING FOX

  SCIENTIFIC NAME: Pteropus poliocephalus

  TYPE: mammal

  RANGE: southeastern Australia

  FOOD: blossoms, nectar, and fruit

  The scientific order that includes all bats is Chiroptera. It means “hand-wing.” The name refers to the fact that the bones in the wing are very similar to those of a hand.

  Bats are separated into two groups: microbats and megabats. While “micro” and “mega” refer to size, these names can be confusing. Not all megabats are larger than microbats. A better way to tell them apart is by their food. Microbats usually eat insects, and most megabats feast on flowers and fruit. There are physical differences that reflect the way they hunt, too. Microbats use their ears to hear echoes, so their ears are larger and adapted to this skill. Megabats rely more on sight and smell. Therefore, they have larger eyes and noses.

  “Flying fox” is another term for megabat. The grey-headed flying fox is one of the largest bats in the world. While their bodies are roughly a foot long, their wingspan can reach five feet. Their heads, with an obvious snout, do resemble that of a fox. The grey-headed flying fox even has a stylish ruffle of rust-colored fur around its neck. Very foxy.

  “Maybe we should stop and listen,” Eliza suggested. “I read that some flying foxes have over thirty different calls. We might hear them.”

  “Do you know what they sound like?” Russell asked.

  “Not exactly,” admitted Eliza. “But I think we should explore every possibility. Or maybe you have a better idea?”

  Eliza was pushy, but Sage knew she had a point. “We can give it a try,” she said. “It can’t hurt.”

  Sage watched Eliza and Mari close their eyes. Then she caught Russell and Dev rolling theirs. Sage glared at them until they did the same. As soon as Sage’s eyes were closed, the forest’s sounds were magnified. Everything was louder. She could hear life in many forms: rustling, scurrying, squawking, chewing. But Sage could not be certain she heard a bat. She did, however, hear people.

  When Sage opened her eyes, Eliza was right in front of her. The other girl held a very straight finger up to her lips. She motioned to the group and directed them into the shadows.

  “What are we doing?” Sage asked, but Eliza just raised her finger again. This time, she pointed with it.

  A mass of dark figures crossed overhead. “Do you see that?” Eliza asked, her words fast and precise. “It’s a walkway that takes you up into the canopy. That’s where we need to be.”

  Sage remembered that the canopy was the top level of a rain forest. It was in the highest branches of the tallest trees. During the day, the sunlight reached that level, so it thrived with life. “How do we get up there?” Sage whispered.

  The straight finger returned. This time, a stern scowl came with it. Eliza motioned and led the way.

  Sage wondered how many teams were ahead of them. If the organizers were going to eliminate some teams early, Sage had to make sure her team wasn’t one of them.

  With a twist around an enormous fig tree, and a turn past a grove of lush palm trees, Eliza delivered the team to what looked like a secret spiral staircase. It wrapped around a giant tree trunk as it went up, up, up.

  “If we’re going to find a fruit bat, this is the way to do it,” Dev said.

  “Watch out for snakes,” Eliza whispered over her shoulder. “Most of them can climb. There’s the common tree snake, the brown tree snake, and all the pythons. The pythons are constrictors, which means they squeeze their prey to death.”

  Sage flinched as she smacked into a branch that reached over the winding staircase. She shoved the leaves out of the way and climbed to the top. As she left the staircase behind, the thick cover of leaves gave way to the starry sky above. The walkway had a railing, but Sage still felt exposed. Up in the trees, the air was cooler. It whirled around on all sides, making Sage uncertain of her next step in the dark.

  Dev strode out to a platform that jutted out over the forest. Below, a waterfall dropped into a rocky pool with crystal-clear splashes. It was breathtaking, but Sage was concerned. Why were they the only team there? It was a prime view. Had all the other teams already moved on?

  “I see something!” Russell called out in a dramatic whisper. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but Sage soon focused in on a graceful form, swooping through the sky. “It’s flying, right over there.”

  “It’s a sugar glider,” Mari said. “And it’s not actually flying. Just watch.”

  Sure enough, the creature soared downward through the air but soon landed on a tree trunk.

  “Did you see how its wings disappeared as soon as it gripped the tree?” Mari asked. “That’s because they aren’t wings; they’re thin pieces of skin that catch the air.”

  “So that’s not our bat,” Dev said, putting the ancam back in place.

  Only moments later, Dev whipped it out again. “That looks like a bat,” he said, holding the ancam up. “But it doesn’t seem to be looking for flowers or fruit. It’s just dipping and diving.”

  “That’s because it’s a microbat,” Eliza said. “It’s searching for insects. You�
��ll know our megabat. It’ll be bigger than that.”

  All at once, they heard a chirping cry.

  “Duck!” Russell called out, and the whole team dropped down to their knees.

  “That was not a duck,” Dev said. “It was a flying fox!” As Dev fumbled with the ancam, Sage watched the bat. Its wingspan looked as wide as her arms. With the moon shining from above, she could almost see through the thin skin that made up the bat’s wings. She could spot the map of blood vessels that coursed through them. It was amazing.

  “You think this is good enough?” Dev asked, holding up the ancam screen.

  “I’m not sure,” Russell said. “It looks like a bat, but it doesn’t show any of this species’ special features.”

  “It was definitely a grey-headed flying fox,” Eliza said. “You could tell by the distinctive rust-colored collar of fur around its neck.”

  “But you can’t see that in the picture,” Russell pointed out, frowning at the tiny screen.

  “I don’t know. Should we risk sending in a not-so-good shot?” Dev wondered.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Mari as she left the platform and walked back toward the main walkway. “That bat was just leaving its roost, and I think it left something behind.”

  CREATURE FEATURE

  KING BROWN SNAKE

  SCIENTIFIC NAME: Pseudechis australis

  TYPE: reptile

  RANGE: most of Australia, except for rain forests and coastal regions in the north, east, and south

  FOOD: lizards, birds, frogs, and small mammals

  What’s in a name? Even though this species has brown and copper-colored scales, it actually belongs to the black snake family. It is Australia’s second longest venomous snake, and one of the continent’s most dangerous.

  The king brown’s venom is not overwhelmingly toxic, but it has more of it than most snakes. The longer the snake bites, the more venom that streams into its victim. While snakes do use venom as a form of protection, its main function is for hunting.