Prairie Picnic Little Prairie Dogs

Beneath the American prairies, deep underground,

the Little Prairie Dogs are stirring.

Come on, Little Prairie Dogs, wake up!

It's time to tell a story of life on the prairies.

Eek! Eek!

It's lunchtime and all the animals are hungry

and looking for something to eat.

The bison are wandering, in search of fresh grass.

The swift foxes are prowling, trying to find some food.

Snow and Ashki are also hungry

They are spying on their neighbours eating lunch.

Look, Snow, everyone in the town is eating.

Is that Uncle Billy eating a cactus?

Ow! Oh! Ow! Oh!

Silly Billy! That can't be good for his teeth.

Mum, what have we got for lunch?

Snow and Ashki's mum tells them it's grass for lunch again.

I'm so bored of grass!

There must be something more exciting. Can we go and see?

-Let's see what the others are eating.

-It must be nicer than grass!

Mum warns Snow and Ashki to stay away from snakes, ferrets and foxes,

especially at lunchtime.

BOTH: Bye, Mum!

I hope they heard all the things they need to keep away from.

It is dangerous for Little Prairie Dogs.

Look, Snow, it's Ricky the cotton-tailed rabbit.

His tail looks like a big, soft ball of cotton wool.

-What does he eat?

-It's fresh rabbit grass.

You should try it. Mum said we should try new things.

It tastes just like our grass - boring!

-What else does Ricky eat?

-He's a vegetarian, so he just eats plants.

Just like us.

We'll have to look somewhere else for some exciting lunch.

I wish we could eat grasshoppers, bugs and beetles.

-They look tasty.

-Ugh!

No, Snow. They would be way too crunchy.

Maybe, but I'm still very hungry.

Can we see what the others are eating?

We won't grow up strong if we only eat grass. Bye, Ricky.

And thank you.

All this running is making me more hungry.

There must be something more exciting round here to eat.

What about this?

Let me try this bit here.

No. What about this bit?

Hmmm, a bit dry and twiggy.

OUCH! I nearly poked myself in the eye!

-Let's look somewhere else.

-Wait for me!

There is not much to eat here. Ashki, where have you gone?

What have you found over there?

What is it? Can I try it?

Mmmm, I can't stop eating it!

It's really juicy and tasty and...Mmmmmmmm!

I think those humans must have dropped it after their picnic.

Ashki, don't eat it all!

You said it's good to try new things, so leave me a bit.

-Oops! Too late! Sorry, Snow.

-Now I'm really hungry.

Look, Snow!

-It's the big, hairy bison.

-They are big and strong,

they must eat more than grass.

Wow! I've never seen a bison close up. He's huge!

They have to be, Snow. They walk such a long way.

They are always looking for fresh food.

What that growing out of his ears?

They are his horns. They need them for fighting.

I like his shiny nose, and mouth too.

He needs that for sniffing out food.

What does he eat? It must be big and exciting.

Bison are grazers, which means they only eat grass.

Just grass? They must eat something else, they're so big and strong.

No, so we can grow big and strong if we only eat the grass.

I'd still like to see what the other animals are eating.

I'm sure not everyone eats grass.

BOTH: Bye-bye, Mr Bison!

I wonder who we will bump into now. It's exciting!

There's something over there, Ashki. Let's go and have a look.

Look, Ashki!

It's the swift fox. I like him.

Wow! Did you see the size of his teeth?

Fox? Didn't Mum say something about foxes when we left?

Hmmm, not sure.

I'm sure they eat grass, like the other animals.

-What DO they eat, Ashki?

-Hmmm, foxes...teeth...BIG teeth!

-Oh, no!

-What's wrong?

Snow, stay calm. It looks like the fox has had his lunch,

-which is very good news for us.

-Why?

-Snow, the foxes eat prairie dog pie

-Prairie dog pie? AAAAAAGH!

Mum! We saw Ricky Rabbit and a bison, and they shared lunch with us

then we saw Mr Fox and I wondered what he ate

and Ashki forgot to tell me they eat prairie dog pie.

We ran and ran and ran, Mum,

all the way home!

Ah, that's what Mum was trying to warn Snow and Ashki about.

Not all animals are vegetarians.

The prairie dog pups were warned to stay away from the meat-eaters.

I thought you knew EVERYTHING about the prairie!

I do, I just forgot about the fox.

Snow and Ashki have learned a lot about their neighbours today,

especially what they like to eat.

Mum, I don't care what all the other animals eat,

I really like grass.

Snow and Ashki are going to look a little closer to home for lunch.

It's time to say goodbye from the North American prairies.

Mmmm, lovely grass!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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