Kate Messner - Tree of Wonder

For Maddie, Alex, and Kaitlynn with love K. M.
A MargheritaS. M.

Text copyright 2015 by Kate Messner.
Illustrations copyright 2015 by Simona Mulazzani.
Performance copyright 2015 by Chronicle Books.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book goes to support the work of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Messner, Kate.
Tree of wonder / by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Simona Mulazzani.
pages cm
Other title: NRDC : tree of wonder
Audience: 5-8.
Audience: K to grade 3

ISBN 978-1-4521-1248-0 (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4521-3023-1 (epub 2)
ISBN 978-1-4521-3207-5 (mobi)
ISBN 978-1-4521-3209-9 (epib)
ISBN 978-1-4521-3211-2 (epub 3)

1. Rain forest ecologyJuvenile literature. 2. Habitat (Ecology)Juvenile literature. 3. Dipteryx oleiferaJuvenile literature. I. Mulazzani, Simona, illustrator. II. Title. III. Title: NRDC : tree of wonder.

QH541.5.R27M47 2015
577.34dc23

2013032910

Design by Jennifer Tolo Pierce.
Typeset in Cambria and Garden.
The illustrations in this book were rendered in acrylic and pencil on paper.

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107

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Deep in the forest, in the warm-wet green, ONE ALMENDRO TREE grows, stretching its branches toward sun.

Among these gnarled roots and rutted bark, crisscrossed limbs and rain-drenched leaves, a whole hidden world bustles and thrives.

A single ALMENDRO TREE can produce more than a million flowers when it blooms. Later, animals will come from all over the forest to eat the fruit that it bears. Many others are already here, hidden in the shadows and leaves, and depend on the tree not just for food but for a home. In all, more than a thousand different living things depend on this tree.

Look upway up! GREAT GREEN MACAWS nest in the hollow left by a fallen branch. Soon, there will be more!

Flocks of GREAT GREEN MACAWS will come to feast on the almendros ripe fruit, but its likely that just one couple will make its home in the tree. Great Green Macaws, or America, lapas verdes as they are known in Latin America, mate for life and return to the same nest hole each year. They lay eggs and raise chicks in the almendro tree, drink water that collects in the trees cavities, and feast on fruit as it ripens.

Whos hungry? KEEL-BILLED TOUCANS bawk and squawk and squabble over breakfast.

KEEL-BILLED TOUCANS often travel in flocks of four to twelve birds. Theyre easy to recognize by the colorful bills they use to pick fruit. Toucans sometimes use their bills to toss fruit to one another, as if theyre playing a game.

Whats that growly, roaring sound? HOWLER MONKEYS swing and balance, chasing each other from branch to branch. Tag, youre it! That fruit is MINE!

HOWLER MONKEYS usually live in troops, groups that range from just a few to nearly twenty. They are the largestand loudestmonkeys in Latin America. Male howler monkeys have extra-large throats and vocal chambers so powerful their call can be heard 3 miles (5 kilometres) away. Theyre telling other monkeys, This territory is taken by our troop, so keep moving! When howler monkeys take fruit from the almendro tree, they sometimes carry it away and drop their leftovers on the ground, spreading seeds. In this way, the almendro tree feeds the monkeys and the forest, all at once.

Deep in a moist, dark hollowstep inside and shine a light FRUIT BATS sleep the day away, upside down. When night comes, it will be their turn to feast on fruit.

During the day, groups of five to twenty FRUIT BATS roost in caves or hollow trees. At night, they fly out to feed and may carry fruit to eating roosts far away. They gnaw off the flesh and drop the seeds to the forest floor. If someone buries the seeds, they might sprout. Plants with lighter seeds rely on wind to scatter them, but heavy seeds like the almendro trees need help from animals like bats and monkeys.

Watch where you fly, fruit bats.... FER-DE-LANCE vipersa mother and her newborn babieslurk, curled and coiled, waiting for prey.

A female FER-DE-LANCE may give birth to more than fifty live young snakes at a time, each one about 1 foot (30 centimetres) long. The fer-de-lance loves fallen branches and rotten logs on the forest floor. Females are larger than males and can grow to be 8 feet (2.4 metres) long. Even the babies can give a painful and dangerous bite. Toxic venom and an aggressive attitude make the fer-de-lance the deadliest snake in Costa Rica.

Someone else is searching for food.... AGOUTIS sniff and snuffle the forest floor. They gorge on fallen fruit. Then gather! Dig! Gather more! Agoutis stockpile food, hiding it away for later.