Inside this week’s edition: Amazing Pangolin Anime Person reviews! around Cambridge Interview with Year 6 teaching Thrilling poetry legend, competition, Mr Drane and much much more…! Monkey takes own selfie! Editor’s note: Welcome back everyone! We have missed you so much. We have said goodbye to some of The Storey members and welcomed some new journalists (Kiki, Sophia and Jasmina), we hope you have all had a wonderful week and we can’t wait to see you again for next week. We hope you all enjoy this week’s edition of The Storey. -Yasmin The Storey Interview with Mr Charles Emogor Friday, 5th March 2021 (11am) on Zoom By Christopher Picture Credit:The Tab(Link on the next page) Would you please tell us more about yourself? My name is Charles Emogor, and I am from Nigeria. I am doing a PhD in Cambridge looking at pangolin ecology. I did my Masters from Oxford and Bachelors in Nigeria. I did an internship with Nigeria programme of the Wildlife Conservation Society which focussed on gorilla conservation. And I love pangolins! What inspired you to focus on pangolins? I remember seeing pangolins on TV when I was your age, around 9 or 10 years old. They are different from all animals – their super long tongues are longer than the length of their bodies! Pangolins stood out for me and the interest and passion just grew. I now pursue it as a career. Please share some interesting facts about pangolins. People thing that pangolins are related to armadillos, but they are actually related more to cats and dogs! They are the only mammals to have scales. In the wild, when pangolins are terrified of something they roll up into balls. It is a sad fact because they then do not run away from danger and humans can easily pick them up. They are eight species of pangolins; four species in each of the two continents of Asia and Africa. They live usually between 3 – 5 years. Parrots live longer than pangolins! Mother pangolins look after their young by carrying them around but only for 3 months after their birth! This leaves the young pangolins vulnerable to poachers. Pangolins are the most trafficked animals in the world. What is trafficking? Trafficking is when things (including humans) are traded illegally i.e. people still buy and sell these things when it is against the law to do so. I read on the International Fund for Animal Welfare website that between 2016-2019, 360,000 pangolins were killed for their scales. That is a shocking number! How many are left in the wild? The number of pangolins in the wild is hard for us to know. People are more interested in them now recently – over the last few decades or so. It is super hard to know the numbers in the wild. Some pangolins go up trees or into the ground to sleep or nest so it is difficult to trace and track. What pangolin conservation is able to do is focus on the weight of the scales trafficked and with that estimate the number of individual pangolins that have been killed. Between 2010 and 2020, 1 million pangolins were linked to trade from Nigeria alone! The population of the Asian pangolin is bad; although there is no definite number, we know that their numbers are smaller than in Africa. The numbers have fallen so much that now traffickers are getting them from Africa. There is inter-continental illegal trade and there are enormous amounts that are seized so the pangolin population is declining fast. Besides, the rate at which they reproduce is slow – one birth a year like humans, so they cannot recover fast enough. https://thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2021/02/19/meet-charles-emogor-the-cambridge-student-running-for-eight- hours-straight-to-help-save-the-pangolins-147430 What can be done to save pangolins? A lot of things! Your interview for your school paper which will go out to students and parents would help gather interest. It is about raising awareness – especially for people who do not live in areas with pangolins. A lot of people are consuming medicines without knowing that they contain pangolin parts. Raising funds can support pangolin conservation in Asia and Africa. There are other practical steps like: providing or conducting anti-poaching patrols by the forest police called rangers. These patrols can help stop the bad guys from looking for pangolins. There are not enough ranges due to limited funding in conservation. Making customs in different parts of the world stronger – to arrest people who traffick pangolins and take them to court and prosecute. Your run was very interesting and caught people`s attention. How far did you run in the eight hours? I ran 55 kms in the eight hours. The first two hours I was strong, but from the fourth hour of the run, I started to get cramps every 10 mins and I was only half way through. But I had a great housemate to support me – my friend and the people I met along the way, especially at the city centre provided me with the encouragement I needed along the way. I always remembered I was raising money for the pangolins. It was hard but a lot of fun too. If there is one thing you want everyone to do today to help protect the pangolins, what would that be? For those who can find and know pangolins, to tell other people about pangolins. Help spread the word and create an awareness cycle; a chain of knowledge. It could help discourage people to hunt pangolins. Do you have a pet? I grew up with a pet dog. In fact, I bought a German Shepherd for my mother; but sadly passed away when I was in the UK. Do you like any other animals? I like gorillas – I have worked for gorilla conservation before. I like penguins and badgers also! I have come across badgers around in the open spaces in Eddington when running later in the nights around 9 – 10pm, and will be taking my camera next time. I thought it would be interesting to ask: do you think animals dream? Ha! That is an interesting question and I have not thought about it. I would think that they have a mind, so I think that they do. I have had pet dogs at home, and when they were asleep, we would see them have facial expressions and movements not connected with sleeping! So, I think it is a strong maybe! Links: Should people want to donate – Fundraiser link: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/runforpangolins?f bclid=IwAR3X5UnwOYWH0r3qpM67we2YCrmYXzPGtGH6QrsledA L3awK1y1P0krYyUI Video: https://vimeo.com/520506958 To mark World Poetry Day on the 21st March 2021 Win a £10 Heffers Gift Card Poetry Competition Our Future-Our Voices You need to: Write a poem with the title: Our futures-Our Voices • Use rich powerful interesting language • Use metaphors • Creative ideas • Your poem doesn’t have to rhyme Not only will the winner win £10- Your poem will be published in a book!! Amazing!! Good Luck Children of UCPS! Please send your poem to [email protected] Closing date 21/3/21 Interview Mr Drane Q&A Q: Why do you teach? A: Because it is interesting speaking to lots of people everyday and changing their lives. It’s boring looking at a screen all day..! Bring back the classrooms Q: Do you enjoy teaching? A: Yes, I love it gimme more. Q: Do you like teaching year six or would you like to go to another year group? A: Year 6 is life. Q: Do you enjoy making videos for year 5 and 6? A: I do like making videos. but I prefer playing capture the ball. Q: What do you prefer cheese or Brussel sprouts? A: Cheese, easy! Q: Are you an outside or inside person? A: Outside because freedom, air and exercise. Q: Do you like technology? A: I love it because I was very lucky because I was born where it was becoming a big thing. Q: How long have you been a Chelsea fan? A: 32 years and 2 months (his whole life)! Q: How long have you been teaching for? A: 10 long years! Q: Summer or winter? A: Summer because I can get out the pizza oven. Q: Who is you favourite teaching assistant? A: Mrs Durning. Competition Number 2 Create a beautiful piece of art with the title and theme: What matters for me in the world? Or Unlocking and Releasing the Imagination. Not only will the winner win £10- Your artwork will be published in a book!! Amazing!! Good Luck Children of UCPS! Please send a picture of your artwork/creation to [email protected] Closing date 21/3/21 Anime Hello and welcome this is a Ponyo review. PONYO REVIEW AND LOTS MORE Ponyo is a children’s anime movie (7+) about a little girl who is actually a fish that falls in love with a young boy. Ponyo has so many siblings like a group of fish also known as a school of fish (imagine a school for underwater sea creatures) (Image by entromag.org) These are her siblings!! (and herself (the bigger one)) Ponyo has a mother and a father and she falls in love with this young boy called Sosuke, Sosuke is a smart loyal intelligent and heroic (and adorable)! Ponyo the little girl parents are fujimoto (藤本) is indeed the father, the mother of Ponyo is Granmamare Ponyo mom actually has a meaning did you know? No well then meaning of “Granmamare” is Goddess of mercy and the queen of the sea.