Zoophabet: Ants to Zorillas

Ants use antennae to seek out their tracks,

Beavers gnaw trees for their lodge,

Camels store food in the humps on their backs,

Dragonflies dazzle and dodge,

Elephant trunks furnish watery flings,

Flamingoes eat shrimp to keep pink;

Grasshoppers' ears appear under their wings,

Hummingbirds hover to drink,

Inchworms advance with a rear-ended loop,

Jellyfish sometimes can sting,

Kestrels catch lunch with a lightning-like swoop,

Larks love to warble and sing,

Moles tunnel intricate malls underground,

Newts thrive in ponds filled with weed,

Owls like to swivel their heads right around,

People can learn how to read,

Quetzals are gorgeous in feathery dress,

Rats have acquired a bad label,

Seahorse appears like a figure in chess,

Tortoise found fame in a fable,

Umber-birds thrive in the African wild,

Vipers can poison their prey,

Worms turn the soil when the climate is mild,

Xylophage chews wood all day,

Yaks grow in horns that are gracefully curled,

Zorillas are striped black and white;

each zooabet creature is part of this world:

unique, with its own copyright!

Copyright Credit: Avis Harley, "Zoophabet: Ants to Zorillas" from Fly With Poetry. Copyright © 2000 by Avis Harley. Reprinted by permission of Highlights for Children/Boyds Mills Press.

Source: Fly With Poetry: An ABC of Poetry (Boyds Mills Press, 2000)