Lulu Bell and the Tiger Cub by Belinda Murrell Page B

outside a big enclosure. It was protected by a tall glass wall. Inside was a mini rainforest with bamboo groves, trees, fallen logs and long, thick grass. To the left was a green pond. The children pressed against the glass.
    â€˜What lives in here?’ asked Lauren.
    â€˜Terrifying tigers,’ said Max. He roared and pounced on Daniel for a wrestle.
    â€˜The Sumatran tigers,’ said Molly, reading the sign. ‘The smallest tigers in the world.’

    â€˜There’s a mother with three cubs,’ added Lulu. ‘Two girls and a boy. The male tiger lives next door.’
    â€˜Where are they?’ asked Daniel.
    The children looked around the enclosure carefully. There was no sign of any animals. Lulu felt disappointed. She badly wanted to see the tiger cubs.
    â€˜There,’ said Max.
    A pair of tawny eyes peered from the shadows. The female tiger stalked out of the undergrowth and into the open. She was dark orange, with thick black stripes and smaller patches of white. The tiger looked around, her long white whiskers twitching.
    â€˜And here are the cubs,’ whispered Lulu.
    Three roly-poly cubs tumbled out of the shadows. They pounced and rolled,ears over tail. They wrestled and played like oversized kittens. They tussled on the side of the pond, then chased each other through the water, splashing and bounding.
    â€˜Aren’t they beautiful?’ asked Lauren.
    The mother tiger wandered towards the front of the enclosure, where the five children huddled together. She flopped down in a patch of sun, her back pressed against the glass. Molly jumped away in fright.
    Max pressed his palms against the glass. His eyes shone with excitement. ‘She’s so close I feel like I could pat her.’
    The children kept watching the tigers. The male cub was bigger and bolder than the other two. He scrambled up on a fallen log then jumped off, bowling his sister over. Using his claws, he clamberedup a tree trunk, before dropping clumsily to the ground.
    The cub hid in the grass and pounced on his mother’s tail, as if it were a snake. His mother batted him away with her paw. Then she held him down and licked him with her long, raspy tongue.

    The cub wriggled away. His sisters chased him and tripped him over, starting another round of mock-fighting.
    Their audience laughed with delight.
    â€˜I wish I could get right inside the enclosure,’ said Lulu. ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely to cuddle those cubs?’
    â€˜They’re adorable,’ said Mum. ‘But I think the mother tiger would have something to say about you cuddling her babies.’
    â€˜Grrrr. She’d eat you all up,’ joked Max.

Chapter 3
The Vet Hospital
    The group moved on to watch lots of other animals – lions, Asian elephants, giraffes and pandas. They managed to find the answers to several more treasure hunt questions.
    â€˜Which is the tallest animal that lives on land?’ asked Molly.
    â€˜A gigantic giraffe,’ said Max. ‘The sign said an adult giraffe can be sixmetres tall – that’s nearly the height of a two-storey building.’
    â€˜What do pandas eat?’ asked Daniel, as they reached the cuddly black-and-white animals.
    â€˜Bamboo makes up ninety-nine per cent of their diet,’ answered Lauren.
    Mum checked her watch. ‘It’s nearly ten o’clock. Time to head to the vet hospital.’ She pointed towards a narrow path that was nearly hidden by trees. ‘This way.’
    â€˜I’ve never noticed this path before,’ said Lauren.
    In the western corner of the zoo was a big modern building surrounded by trees. This was the vet hospital. Mum pressed the buzzer by the door.
    A young nurse in a green uniform answered. A bulging pouch hung at herwaist, held on by a wide shoulder strap.
    â€˜Hi,’ said Mum. ‘I’m Chrissie Bell. This is my daughter Lulu, and her friends from Shelly Beach School. We’re here to see