Zabu - The Adventures of a Young Orca E-Book

Doris Thomas

• Herausgeber: via tolino media
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Zabu, the young orca, is separated from his family by a huge drift net. On the long journey back to his fellow orcas, he has to survive exciting adventures. He meets various types of whales unfamiliar to him so far. Zabu befriends Piet, the sperm whale, he saves the life of a humpback whale baby and tries hard to keep up with a dolphin in a swimming contest. Only the advice of the cheeky belugas gets him closer to the end of his journey. (translated from German to English by Christine Sawinski) This is the first of five lovingly illustrated reading adventures about Zabu. The book contains a lot of information about the most impressive creatures of the seas. Adventure 2 - Zabu – An Orca in Search of the Unknown Adventure 3 - Zabu - The Secret of the Orcas Adventure 4 - Zabu - Orcas in Danger Adventure 5 - Zabu - Orcas on the Run

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Impressum

Acknowledgement

The Separation

Fight with the Giant Octopus

Taki’s Birth

Makara, the Blue Whale

The Laughter of the Belugas

Dolphin Games

The Reunion

Some interesting facts about whales

The whale species appearing in this book

The Adventures of Zabu

The Author

Impressum

© 2022 Doris Thomas

c/o Barbara’s Autorenservice

Tüttendorfer Weg 3

24214 Gettorf

Germany

Text and illustrations by Doris Thomas

Translated from German to English by Christine Sawinski

Cover by Doris Thomas (with kind permission of Verlag an der ESTE)

www.Doris-T.de

ISBN: 9783754650424

Acknowledgement

My heartfelt thanks

to my family and various friends who always support me and encourage me when something doesn't work out. A special thanks to the publishing house at ESTE, which made my dream come true in 2005 and published the first Zabu adventures. Another thanks goes to the many students who sent me countless great letters and beautiful drawings. Thanks are also due to my friends in the Azores who invited me many times to observe the wonderful and impressive marine mammals in their natural habitat from their tour boats and even to swim with wild dolphins.

The Separation

The first day of Zabu’s adventures started like a perfectly ordinary day. In the morning nobody would have guessed that something unusual was about to happen. Zabu was part of an orca family. He was not yet grown up but neither was he a very young whale. His light patches shone brightly white and not yellowish-pink as in a baby whale. Zabu was no longer fed by his mother, as he was able to catch his own fish. But there were many things he still had to learn. On that particular morning he was to make an involuntary start.

The sun was just rising and Zabu and his family were still quite sleepy. Orcas are very strong and all animals of the sea are afraid of them. Therefore they were able to sleep peacefully and did not even need a guard. The first sunbeams were just lighting up the sea when a shadow fell upon Zabu’s family. The whales had heard the put-put of engines often before but as they were still tired they did not take any notice of the small boat that was approaching them. Slowly and evenly something like a wall was lowered from the surface of the water to the bottom of the sea.

The boat moved closer and closer, steered across the whales and separated Zabu’s family with a huge net.

Now the first few whales woke up and roused the rest of the family with cries of terror.

“A net, a net”, they shouted in confusion.

The whales took a frightened look around and realized what had happened. They were all on one side of the net except for Zabu. Bewildered he stared at the thing that separated him from his family.

“Zabu, stay where you are!” his mother shouted. Zabu could feel her fear and did not move.

“What is this thing?” he asked. His mother tried to stay calm, even though she was very agitated.

“It is a net, Zabu. We have talked to you about human beings before. They don’t live in the water but they own boats, and with these nets they catch fish without going into the water themselves.”

This was hard for Zabu to imagine. To catch fish with a silly thing like a net! Surely human beings must be slow swimmers and bad hunters. “But I can see you. Can’t I just swim through the net?”

“No, Zabu, the net is too strong. You would get caught in it and might suffocate”, his mother warned him.

Zabu could not imagine this but he had learned to listen to his mother. “But I want to be with you again. I want to be on your side. I don’t want to stay here all alone.”

Zabu was sobbing. The whales consulted with each other. They put their round heads together and all Zabu could see were their mighty tail fins.

Zabu’s aunts also tried to figure out how to get Zabu over to their side. They had to be careful not to get too close to the net. Nets had become death traps for too many animals before. Zabu was good at jumping but in trying to cross the net he could easily become entangled.

Zabu became impatient. “Mummy! What can I do now?” he shouted desperately. In the meantime his family had come to a conclusion.

“Well, Zabu, there is only one possibility. The safest way is the long way around the net.”

Zabu stared. His mother continued: “The net is very long and at some stage the humans will pull it in one direction. By then we have to be far away, otherwise we will get caught.”

Zabu tried to imagine what it would mean to be caught in a net. So far he had always been able to surface and draw breath as a matter of course. Caught in a net he could not get to the surface any more and would probably suffocate miserably. All of a sudden he realized the danger of the net and backed away with a strong movement of his pectoral fins.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---