Bedtime with Mrs.
Honeybee.
Today,
In the Honeybee neighborhood,
We'll be following a mysterious set of paw prints into the forest.
What has thumbs like a human,
A tail like a raccoon,
And hangs in trees like a monkey.
Hmm.
I'm stumped.
What is it,
Melody Bee?
It's a little.
.
.
Well,
I can't spoil the surprise,
Mrs.
Honeybee.
Quick,
Before they sneak away.
All you have to do is close your eyes,
Get cozy,
And listen to the sound of my voice.
Mrs.
Honeybee will be your guide.
Let's begin.
You are here in the forest,
Taking the long back way to our house that Harold showed you long,
Long ago.
You've always remembered it because you meet so many animal friends along the way.
It seems like a new one pops up with each walk.
That's what you love about the forest and the Honeybee neighborhood.
There's always something going on.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Feel the crisp coolness of the forest air coming in through your nose and filling up your lungs.
When you cannot take in any more freshness,
Slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and crunch the leaves beneath your feet as you walk.
Right foot,
Left foot,
Right foot,
Left foot.
You made a habit of watching where you're walking out here because there are gnarled tree roots that grow above the soil.
Sometimes you like to balance on them.
Today,
When you do that,
You notice something interesting in the dirt beside you.
It looks like a paw print,
But not like Harold's which are little and round from his paw pads.
This paw print,
If we can even call it that,
Has thumbs.
You're so close to the house that you can see our backyard from here.
You shout out to Mr.
Honeybee.
Little Honeybee,
Is that you?
He peeks his eyes over the fence and sees you balancing on the tree root.
You point down to the ground and tell him that you found thumb prints in the soil.
Buzz,
Buzz,
Buzz.
Intrigued,
Melody Bee peeks her eyes over the fence right beside Mr.
Honeybee.
Did you say thumb prints?
On the ground beneath a tree?
You show him by following the trail that leads all the way to our backyard without stepping on them.
You follow them through the gate,
Around the garden beds,
And over to where the hammock hangs between two trees.
Someone with thumbs and four feet must have enjoyed our hammocks last night.
Mrs.
Honeybee,
Come out here.
You have to see this.
Why hello,
My little Honeybee.
What did you find?
A thumb print?
It's a paw print,
But it has thumbs.
It's not like any other animal tracks I've seen.
Definitely not a paw print like Harold's.
Harold,
Come here boy.
Harold wakes up from his nap and runs out to the backyard,
So excited to see you.
He leaves paw prints in the grass and the dirt beneath the tree.
You pick him up before he treads on the mysterious paw prints.
Just like Melody Bee said,
The two paw prints look nothing alike.
These are not from a dog or a cat.
They are definitely not from a bird or a squirrel.
Or have you ever seen a monkey in this forest,
Mrs.
Honeybee?
Hmm,
We have a bunch of really kind beavers,
But I haven't met a monkey yet.
What about you,
Melody Bee?
In all your pollinating and wild harvesting,
Have you ever seen a monkey?
I don't think so.
Who else has thumbs that are long like this,
Though?
We must have a monkey that we didn't know about.
Let's follow them and see who the thumbed paw prints belong to.
Come on.
Like wildlife investigators,
We venture out of the backyard and into the forest.
The paw prints circle around and stop when they get to a tree.
It's as if the mystery animal,
The possible monkey,
Goes into the tree for a break,
Then comes back down and resumes walking along the soft soil of the forest floor.
You look back and notice that where you've walked,
You've also left footprints.
They're step by step alongside the mysterious paw prints that we're investigating.
Maybe some forest creature.
Maybe even this one we're trailing now will wake up one morning and investigate our footsteps.
You never know how you'll meet new friends on any given day.
We walk deeper and deeper into the forest.
The trees overhead are so dense with leaves that the sunlight only shines through in splotches.
Every so often,
You step into a sunbeam that shines right through the treetops and you stop for a moment to enjoy its warmth.
Standing in your very own sunbeam,
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Feel your chest and your spirits lift,
Surrounded by the beauty of nature.
Then,
Slowly,
Breathe all the way out through your mouth and look up ahead to where the paw prints continue on.
They seem to never end,
But up ahead,
Mr.
Honeybee finds out that they do just kinda end.
Do you see any more paw prints,
Mrs.
Honeybee?
I don't see anything.
No,
I don't either,
My dear.
Melody Bee,
Can you fly overhead and see if you can find them starting up again?
Sure.
I'll do a quick flutter about.
Be right back.
While Melody Bee takes to the skies,
We do what we can on the ground with one of the world's best sniffers,
Who is always by our side.
Harold,
Can you sniff out where this mysterious creature went?
Maybe up a tree?
Smell this paw print right here.
Harold traces the outline of the thumbed paw print with his snout,
Careful to sniff up any trace of scent.
We stand around him waiting for him to move,
But instead,
He sits down and looks straight up.
Maybe he sees Melody Bee.
We look up to see what he sees,
And do indeed see Melody Bee fluttering down above our heads.
Um,
I think I found the creature,
But I'm not sure what it is.
It's resting up in the tree,
Upside down.
It's sleeping upside down?
Like a bat?
Kinda,
But fluffy,
And with a long tail.
Could it be a koala?
No,
We definitely have koalas.
I've met a few of them on my walks with Harold.
They live in eucalyptus trees.
No,
I think this is a raccoon monkey.
Maybe the Honey Bee neighborhood has the first ever raccoon monkey.
Raccoon monkeys don't exist,
Melody Bee.
I just saw one.
Oh,
And it winked at me.
It has these really bright blue eyes.
So I think the name is Blue-Eyed Winking Raccoon Monkey.
Well,
Now we know.
You all want to head back and have some lemonade?
We can't head back yet.
We have to see this blue-eyed winky creature for ourselves.
It's up in this tree?
Yep,
Right up here.
I'll show you.
We climb up the tree following Melody Bee.
Right hand.
Right foot.
Left hand.
Left foot.
Once we get near the top,
We slow down until we come to a sturdy branch that will hold all of us.
Melody Bee points across from us in the tree,
And there we see our mystery creature.
But not just one.
There are two.
A brown one with bright blue eyes,
And another with a striped tail that does exactly look like a cross between a raccoon and a monkey.
Oh,
There are two raccoon monkeys.
See,
They're right there.
We do have them,
Mr.
Honey Bee.
Wow,
I stand corrected.
Let me try something.
Mr.
Honey Bee balances on the tree branch to pull a contraption out of his pocket that will help us identify exactly what this creature is.
He takes a picture of each of them.
A bright light flashes toward them,
And the blue-eyed one opens his eyes and waves.
Mr.
Honey Bee clicks on his device,
Doing some impromptu research into the scientific name for these new friends to see if they have a name yet.
Wait.
These guys aren't raccoon monkeys.
They're Eulamyr flavifrons.
That's technically who they are.
And they do indeed have thumbs.
Are they lemurs?
I've heard of them before.
Yes,
That's them.
They are pretty interesting,
Actually.
They are the only primate,
Besides humans,
That can have blue eyes.
Oh,
And they have two tongues.
Just as Mr.
Honey Bee says that both of the lemurs stick their tongues out at us with their thumbed paws behind their ears to make silly faces while they hang upside down.
These lemurs are certainly friendly.
And we're friendly,
Too.
Without hesitation,
We decide to introduce ourselves to our new friends.
Hello,
Lemurs.
We're the honey bees.
We saw your interesting paw prints in our backyard.
You can visit us anytime you'd like.
The lemurs turn their heads to be right side up and wave hello again before climbing along the underside of the branch toward us.
They are incredible acrobats who effortlessly swing through the tree just like a monkey would.
When they get to us,
They snuggle in between all of us,
And Harold gives them a good sniff before accepting them as friendly creatures.
The lemurs hold out their tiny hands for us to hold ours up.
You slowly put your hand out and lightly press it against the lemurs.
It's shocking how similar your very different hands seem.
Harold barks wondering why he didn't get any thumbs.
That holds him back so much.
If he had thumbs,
He'd use them to open the refrigerator where the treats hide.
With our feet swinging from the tree branch,
We spend the afternoon with the lemurs,
Learning all about how they live up in the trees.
They take us on a tour of their favorite trees and to meet some of their lemur friends.
There are so many more of them than we ever expected.
We follow the two lemurs down the tree and along the forest floor.
We see their paws making prints and leaves crunch under their footsteps.
They've asked us to follow them because they want to show us something.
We agree and follow them through the forest of trees,
Winding through the sporadic rows of trunks that sprouted up where they pleased.
You didn't realize it,
But we actually followed the lemur uphill and are now on a precipice overlooking a newly formed grove of trees that are just starting to grow.
The lemurs explain that they like to refer to themselves as the creators of the forest in that they are diligent seed spreaders.
They spend most of their days foraging for seeds to eat,
But the seeds that they don't eat,
They bury in the soil.
Since they travel so far and wide throughout the forest,
All the trees we see here are seedlings that sprouted from newly sown seeds they gathered.
Interestingly,
The lemurs are pollinators just like Melody Bee is.
When Melody Bee hears that,
She can't help but immerse herself in the life of a very different pollinator than she's ever met before.
The lemurs teach Melody Bee new pollination tricks and together we learn so much about our new friends who made this forest adventure so,
So special.
Always remember,
Mrs.
Honey Bee believes in you.
You are special and you are loved.
I can't wait to see you again.
