"Hi friend! My name is Pete and my spotted friend's name is Eddy." 

"Hello! I'm Eddy!"

"Hey Eddy, I don't have any spots. Why do you?," Pete asked.

"I'm not sure. Why don't we go ask some friends of mine!"

"Oh look! It is my friend Gilbert! Hello Gilbert," Eddy yelled.

"Hello Eddy!" 

"Gilbert, my friend Pete and I were wondering...why do you and I have spots?"

Gilbert thought for a minute.

"Well, you see that tree behind 

me? The bark on that tree and I 

look quite the same.

Our spots allow us to blend in 

and hide from predators, like lions." 

"As a matter of fact, lions can hide too! Even though they don't have spots, their fur color matches the grass they hide in,

so they can blend in and sneak up on their prey, like giraffes."

"Wow! That's so cool! It's almost like you guys can be invisible," Pete laughed.

Eddy laughed too and then started thinking.

"Hey Gilbert, do you know why we have horns?"

"That's an excellent question!

However, they are not horns. 

They're actually called ossicones. 

Ossicones are from our ancestors and we don't really need them anymore. But we have them to defend ourselves!"

"Did you know rhinoceroses, or rhinos, have two horns like us? They help rhinos defend themselves

 too! Their horns are a bit different because they are not on top of their  head like ours. They are actually located above their noses!"

"Now, if you don't mind, I am quite hungry. I think I am going to grab a bite to eat. Unless you would like to join!" Gilbert asked.

"We're hungry too! We would love to tag along!"

"Mmmmm!" Gilbert exclaimed. 

"These leaves are mighty tasty!"

Eddy began to wonder...

"Say Gilbert, why are our tongues so long?"

"Well, let's use Pete to help us understand why we have long tongues.

Pete's hands help him grab things.

We don't have hands. So, our long tongue allows us to reach and grab branches for us to eat!"

"We also have thick hair around our mouth and lips to help us not get pricked by thorns when grabbing leaves!

Another fun fact is we have flat teeth to help grind the leaves for us to swallow!"

"Wow!" Pete exclaimed.

"That reminds me, you have flat teeth that help you grind leaves to eat, while tigers actually have sharp teeth to help them cut  the meat that they eat!" Pete said. 

"Who knew 

animals could

be so different!" 

Pete's  stomach began to growl. He looked up at the trees. The tree were so high and Pete was to short, he could not reach. "Gilbert, do giraffes have a long neck to help them reach the top of trees to get to the leaves?"