Animal Poems Some poems for kids
The Black Alligator
I'm a large black alligator living close to the equator
I'll eat anything that cares to stroll along
I'll eat birds and I'll eat fish. Mammals make a tasty dish
To consider eating you would not be wrong
I would even eat my young and wrap my rasping tongue
Around the newly hatched that swim this lake
You may think this is obscene and I know just what you mean
But I'm a cannibal for heaven sake
There are some folk that I know who like to make a show
Of how cool it is to have exotic pets
And while we're small and cute they will often spend their loot
On a purchase which will cause them some regrets
Now let's think just for a while, this will not make you smile
When you buy me for a pet to look so cool
I may grow four metres long and grow vicious and too strong
You will end up looking something like a fool
You can't flush me down the pan or sell me to some man
To make handbags from my skin all cut and styled
No zoos will take me in. It makes my poor head spin
For you cannot just release me in the wild
So take a tip from me let wild animals roam free
Don't use us to enhance your self esteem
If you really want a pet - a dog or cat's a better bet
Don't go living some exotic jungle dream
The Axolotl Song
I'm a tiny axolotl and I'm trapped here in this bottle
My dilemma really isn't very new
For years we've been collected, we've been photographed, inspected
By those who want to put us in a zoo
For we seem to fascinate both the humble and the great
Even though they seem so scholarly and wise
So much time they spend in attempts to comprehend
Why we don't choose to change our shape and size
Our numbers are decreasing as development's unceasing
In the land of Mexico which is our home
The poison and pollution has now caused our diminution
From slicks of oil and grey detergent foam
This mad industrial waste really isn't to our taste
We've been taken to extinction's very edge
Our sad annihilation is assured, unless this nation
Decides to clean it's act up and to pledge
To protect its ponds and lakes. It really only takes
Some thought and care to ensure we survive
Lake Chalco's disappeared Xochimilco, as we feared
Has been changed so that we can no longer thrive
Maybe we'll not be missed. We have been on CITES list
For a while but nothing really seems to change
With our frail external gills, like Elizabethan frills
I feel we are considered rather strange
So, soon we'll disappear but you have no need to fear
Our extinction might not seem to bother you
But we're used in your research as on oblivion we perch
We can do something that humans cannot do
If we lose a limb or tail we are able, without fail
To regenerate that missing part again
This ability to grow a leg or tail or toe
Is driving the researchers quite insane
Is the data all compiled, if we die out in the wild
To enable them to finish their research?
Humble creatures we may be but as you can plainly see
Our extinction may leave science in the lurch.
Our regeneration trick is quite clever and quite slick,
Here's something you might like to dwell upon
If we're finally destroyed then you'll be more than annoyed
Who then will you study when we're gone?
The Porcupine
My life it feels just fine as a greedy porcupine
I will stroll about and snuffle, scratch and run
With this appetite of mine I sometimes will combine
Herbs and plants; I've only just begun
For I'm mostly herbivore and I truly just adore
Nearly anything that grows up from the ground
I will eat from dusk to dawn from the moment I am born
It's the best way to survive that I have found
For roots are quite delicious and you needn't be suspicious
If I tell you that dried fruits are tasty too
I will eat the bark from trees for my hunger to appease
And even rotting flesh, you know, will do
I am not stuck to earth and if there is a dearth
Of food then I may even climb a tree
You may read in any journal that I mostly am nocturnal,
It makes it so much harder you'll agree -
For a predator to pounce in one short and deadly bounce
Upon me as I'm shuffling along
But if they are not wise they are in for some surprise
When they're punctured by my spines which are quite long
Oh they should be aware of my keratin, or hair,
That is modified to keep all beasts away'
A spine right up their nose deters them I suppose
And they leave without a moment of delay
I can shake spines like maracas and it wards off all attackers
As they fly like deadly spears through the air
Then I wander on my way with just a moment of delay
For all the world without a single care
When my sharp spines pierce your skin they will certainly go in
But are indubitably harder to retract
The barbs upon my spines have been used in some designs
For hypodermic needles, that's a fact
And this medical appliance has advanced the cause of science
Many other creatures have done much the same
So why not then elect to treat us with respect
And not hunt us and not kill us for your 'game'
It's a word that I find vile and I have no cause to smile
When I think of how it's used to sound like 'fun'
As you think of what I've said another animal lies dead
The 'game' of death. Another life undone
Unusual Gnus
I've unusual news from a number zoos
Of some creatures that carry some weight
These unusual gnus have been feeling the blues
It's a tale that is sad to relate
For they do like to feast on fresh grasses at least
I am told they will travel some miles
In their native land, when no water's at hand
They will endure all kinds of trials
They need to move on when their food source has gone
They are built to migrate through the land
But these creature are stuck in a zoo. What bad luck
And it seems they just don't understand
Their desire to move on has not really gone
They still want to travel the veldt
They dream they still see all the world's mystery
And remember aromas once smelt
So they're stuck in the zoo. Not a great deal to do.
They stare back at the faces they see
With an urge still to travel. It's hard to unravel
Why wanderers cannot be free
