Dolly the Silver Dollar Fish| Part 1

0:00Hello, Critter Protectors, Mr. Jim here and welcome to Kids Animal Stories. A place where there's always a mystery and adventure around every single corner. If you love critters of all shapes and sizes, I need you on our Critter Protector team. Join our adventure as we learn about critters from around the world and in our back yards. Well, my friends, are you ready for today's adventure? Me too, let's go! Dolly opened her eyes, blink, blink, blinked a little bit. Yond and looked around at the fresh water and breathed the big sigh of relief. But then... Yikes! She shouted. Her family was behind her and she always felt very nervous if they seemed to be in a sneaky position.

1:05Dolly was a fish living in a freshwater pond in South America. She was only a small little fish, the color of silver, and was still trying to find her place in this very big wide world. Today's adventure is going to take us on a bit of a surprising story. Dolly called Mother Piranha. Coming, mum! Dolly said with a little fear in her voice. Dolly, what did I tell you about sleeping in? You know we feast early in the morning. Mother Piranha said with a stern voice. Sorry, I just wasn't well, wasn't very hungry. Dolly said very well. Please head over to the group of your sibling that's time to brush all of your sharp teeth. Or at least look to see if you've grown any yet. Dolly swam slowly over towards the other young piranhas.

2:07The truth is, she didn't really like the food they ate. Meet grossed her out. And anyway, she was a late bloomer and didn't really have many of her own teeth grown in yet. Besides, she liked to eat plants much more. Any plant she could sneak a bite of was always a treat. She had to be careful though that nobody in her family saw her eating plants. They laughed for days and tell Mother she wasn't eating what she was supposed to. When Dolly reached the others, she tried to blend in. No, maybe she'd have an easy day if nobody noticed her. Hey, hey Dolly, come on! Shout at Theo. Yeah, come check out this carcass. Max chimed in. The boys always love to find strange gross things on the river floor. They bite them with their teeth and play tug of war pulling all the meat off of the carcass.

3:11Do you know what a carcass is? Yeah, it's a dead animal. These piranhas, yeah, they eat meat from dead animals. Oh wow, yeah. Great job, guys. It's a Dolly. That's a nice carcass you got over there. She said with a fake smile. Come on, Dolly, don't you at least want to try and play along? Harada's need to practice. We're ready to meet. And this is the most fun way to do it, you know? Max said. Yeah, sorry, maybe next time, Max. I'll just watch from over here. Dolly said that she swam back towards a little plant on the side of the bank. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a piranha. It really isn't very fun. The food is no good. I'm smaller than everyone else. I literally don't have the teeth to do the job. Dolly thought to herself and daydreamed about a life different than hers.

4:13She thought of plant-fees, others like her without teeth, gentle games of hide-and-seek, and making friends with other species. Not enemies like most of the fish see piranhas as. Well, time flew too quickly, and Mother was calling the kids back over for lunchtime. Always eating, always fighting, always, always, always. Children, listen. Today we are heading down to the southern edge of the water. You will travel much further than normal, but there should be a magnificent feast when we arrive. Said their mother. Hooray! Shattered the kids. Hooray! And then Dolly with a quiet whisper voice. The crew headed south like a stampede. Dolly struggled to swim with the vigor of the rest of the piranhas

5:14and couldn't help but notice the occasional fish or other critters scamper away as they sped past. You see piranhas or they're not to be messed with and a crowd of them was even more intimidating to even a small fish like Dolly. About halfway to this feast, they took a small break, and Dolly again found a small plant tied by a nibble on. She tried to keep herself and suddenly heard a small voice. Psst! Hey! Hey! Psst! Over here! Dolly looked around, quite startled and saw a little, a small little fry hiding on the other side of the plant. She wasn't sure what kind of fish it was. Oh yeah, not like a French fry. But a fish called the fry. But it was nice to see a fish smaller than her for once. What are you doing with those piranhas over there? The fry asked. Do you need help? Are you being held captive? Are you okay?

6:15Oh, oh yeah, I'm fine. Dolly was confused. What do you mean anyways? They're my family. Family? Now the fry was very confused. He's a fish. Well, eat fish like you and me. You're your family. You're a silver Dolly fish. Dolly was shocked and she was speechless. Her family? Wait, was she actually a part of a different species? Within seconds, everything was making sense. Her small size? Her different yet somewhat smaller appearance? Her lack of sharp teeth? Her disgust for carnivorous meat? Dead bodies? Oh dear, Dolly was feeling very faint. What in the world? Is Dolly going to do next? I'm not sure, but we're going to have to wait and see what happens on the next episode of Kids Animal Stories. Hey, great job. You listened all the way to the end.

7:15You know, if you love critters of all shapes and sizes, then I would love it if you joined our critter protector team. Down in the show notes below, your parents can click on that and it will bring you to a place where you can learn about what it means to become a critter protector. Basically, if you love critters of all shapes and sizes and you want to learn about critters around the world and in your backyard, then I would love to send you a critter protector badge in the mail for free. Well friends, I hope you have a super duper day and I will see you on our next adventure. Bye!