"Allie," calls my mom. "Come here, I've something important to tell."

I get all excited and ran up to her. I am almost a year old. My mother says that she laid 62 eggs along with mine when she laid her eggs. She only used to lay about 30 eggs normally and she says she was so happy when she laid so many. She hoped many of the eggs will hatch. But only 11 eggs hatched to be baby alligators. Many of the rest got eaten by predators and my mother could not always defend us. Out of the 11 eggs that hatched 10 hatched by late August. She did not think I will hatch out of the egg, but she continued to protect me from predators hoping that I will hatch out of the egg. I was the last one to hatch, the 11 th one. But I hatched one day in early September. I was the smallest alligator she had. I had too much trouble getting out of the egg and she said she had to help me out of the shell and out of the nest. My mother taught us how to use the tail for swimming, nest-building, what to do when we have to lay eggs, how to stay under water, and how to avoid predators.

"Allie, listen baby, now you are one year old and it's time for you to start off on your own. I have taught you everything you need to know to take care of yourself. It's time for me to let you go and make a home and life for yourself. I love you."

She turned and started walking away. It was cold and rainy and suddenly I started feeling very sad and lonely. I was frozen, I could not move. When I realized that I was alone, I started looking for my mother everywhere. I could not find her anywhere. Where could she have gone so quickly? Suddenly I felt an arrow rub past me. I looked up and saw a hunter, he was trying to shoot at me but he had missed. I quickly went into the water and avoided him. There I bumped into another alligator who said her mother had left her too. We became friends, but even today I keep looking for my mother.

~ Anthony, Age 13, USA ~

Myra was a baby manatee. One day she was playing with two of her friends and swimming close to the water surface. They were so busy playing that they could not hear anything happen around them. Suddenly Myra heard a scream. She saw Mambo, her friend, unable to breathe. It took her some time to notice that the big boat that had just passed them had hurt her. Myra swam fast to help Mambo\, but before she could say a word Mambo breathed her last. Myra was so sad. She swam down to her parents and told them about it. Her parents said that this happened all the time and that was why they had been telling her to be careful when she goes to the surface. They also told her that there had already been seven manatee deaths due to the same reason. Myra was so sad and she asked them if they could move somewhere else. Her parents agreed and they swam and swam for several days taking plenty of breaks. Finally, they found themselves near California . It seemed quite there. They settled down there hoping to be able to live a better life.

~ Cara, Age 9, USA ~

Barat is a baby mountain gorilla. When she was born, her parents were brutally killed by poachers. The mommy gorilla and daddy gorilla tried so hard to get the baby safe from the poachers. They tried to help the baby hide behind the bushes and they kept running at the poachers, trying to scare them. But there were six poachers, all very strong. The gorillas, although strong, could not fight them. It was so easy for them to kill the two parents. The baby was very scared, it knew something was not right but was afraid to come out. He could see the poachers pacing up and down furiously. He saw his mom and dad on the ground and they were not moving. He wanted to cry but was afraid that they would track him by the sound. The poachers were saying something loud to each other and somehow the baby Gorilla had a feeling that they were talking about him.

Suddenly, he felt someone grab him from behind and pick him up. One of the poachers found him hiding there although he was as quiet as a mouse. He picked him up and shouted at him in some strange language. The baby thought he had done something wrong although the poacher was screaming at the baby gorilla for making it so hard to find him. He kicked the man hard to escape his grip, but that made the man even madder and he whacks the baby harder. The baby decided it was not a good idea to fight anymore. He carried the baby gorilla right past his parents. The baby could see they had not moved even a bit. He did not know that they were dead. He was very hungry and thirsty, but the man fed him nothing. He was so scared. After so many hours of traveling the man handed me to another man. That man seemed nice; he gave him some money in exchange for the baby gorilla. The poacher took the money and disappeared. The new man took the baby gorilla to his home and fed me. The baby gorilla thought he was safe, but what he did not know was that he was going to be an exotic pet and not be able to live a normal life.

~ Amanda, Age 12, USA ~

When the number of California condors dropped down to about 25, my dad was one of the people who helped to bring them back from going extinct. He works for the condor recovery team. For a long time, his job was very weird. His office was a trench. He had to work in that trench all day. It was a pit trap just big enough for him to stay inside. He had to hide there and wait to capture the condors. It was not for a bad cause. They had decided that the only way to make sure the condors don't become extinct is to capture them and put them in zoos for breeding.

They had to take special care to build the trenches. They built them to match the surroundings so the condors will not suspect. My dad tells that it is easy to tell whether the approaching bird is a condor. They fly down with a whoosh and the whoosh just gets louder and louder and then thy land thumping their giant feet and clattering their gigantic wings. This way they captured quite a few of the condors and they have been going up in numbers now.

~ Billy, Age 13, California , USA ~