On The Brink of Extinction

By W.M. Wiltshire

Three very diverse animals are united in a common goal: survival. Witness their remarkable journey as they search for a new home, one away from humans. These inspiring animals face perilous trials and harrowing challenges in a beautiful ecosystem that is rapidly disappearing.

ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION

• Language: English
• Publisher: W.M. Wiltshire
• Release date: Nov 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781999113469

Book preview

Part I: The Prelude

1: Present Day

RUN! Come on! FASTER! You can do it! Marty scolded himself. He was running full out, but he knew it was only a matter of time. The distance between him and his pursuer was closing and closing fast.

Marty’s stout, pear-shaped body and short legs were not designed for sprinting. Perhaps that’s why his mother had always told him to stick close to home. Don’t wander off! she’d said.

He was thankful the others were out of harm’s way, or so he hoped. Now, all he had to do was save himself.

What a fool he had been, leading his small band through the burnt-out grasslands—in plain sight of every predator around! The recent fire had destroyed every viable food source; now everyone was searching for their next meal, and right now, Marty was in danger of being offered as the daily special. Faster! he told himself. Your sorry life depends on it!

Ooof, Marty grunted when he stumbled over a rut in the ground. He picked himself up and took off again, searching for a place to hide, and the sooner the better.

How he had avoided being killed so far remained nothing short of a miracle. He just needed one more miracle, and soon. He scanned the horizon, but he couldn’t find anywhere to take shelter from his pursuer, who was clearly gaining on him. Marty was running out of time and he knew it. They had come so far and had endured so much, to have it all end like this just wasn’t fair. Faster! He cursed his little legs. His heart was pounding like a drum.

Marty dove under the bottom wire of a barbed-wire fence, leaving behind a chunk of fur from his back. The fence would be a bit of an obstacle for his slightly larger pursuer to navigate, giving Marty some breathing room, but not much.

Marty raced on in search of a hiding place in the barren wasteland that surrounded him on all sides. Suddenly, he noticed a shadow cast from above pass before him. He’d know that shadow anywhere!

Marty, RUN! The yell came from overhead.

What do you think I’m doing? he hollered back, trying not to lose his concentration. A stumble now would mean certain death and he had so much to live for.

No, that’s not what I mean. Run as hard as you can. There’s a ravine up ahead! You’ll have to jump it.

Oh, no! Marty groaned as the edge of the ravine materialized in front of him. With no other options, he pumped his short legs as fast as he could. At the last possible moment, he closed his eyes, and leapt, praying the jump (or, more precisely, the landing) would not kill him.

Part II: The Lessons

2: Sometime Earlier

Everything was black: Marty felt smothered. He pushed with his tiny paws to try to dislodge whatever was sitting on his head. When he finally wriggled free, he found that he was slowly being nudged further and further away, beyond the warmth that had provided him comfort.

It’s okay, my little ones, there’s plenty for all, a soothing and familiar voice purred. Let Mama help you, Marty. You always seem to be wandering off.

Mama’s touch was firm yet gentle as she directed Marty to the food supply. He nuzzled in as close as he could and began to feed. He struggled valiantly to keep his spot when a sibling attempted to push him away. He had to. Being the smallest of the litter, he was always competing against his five bigger siblings and it was always a losing battle.

Mama never failed to notice her youngest: he held a special place in her heart. She waited patiently for her other greedy pups to have their fill. When they were finished, she guided Marty back to continue feeding. When they all lay with bellies full and blissfully content, Mama began her nightly bedtime story, which was guaranteed to put them all to sleep very soon.

Once upon a time, Mama began, when my great-great-grandma was about your age, there was this beautiful, magical land known as the Great Plains. It covered a vast area, as far as the eye could see. It had crystal clear streams and rivers, as blue as a cloudless sky. Lush green grasses of several delicious varieties, such as the tall switchgrasses, clusters of bunch grasses and the shorter turf grasses, grew everywhere. And scattered among this blanket of green were wildflowers, a kaleidoscope of colour rivaling any rainbow.

Mama paused in her storytelling to put a stop to some pushing and shoving and made sure all her pups were comfortable before she continued. While we prairie dogs are one of the smaller residents of this magnificent land, the enormous bison are on the other end of the scale. They travelled in large herds, drifting across the land as they grazed on the tender shoots, always preferring the grasses around our colonies.

Why, Mama? Tirk asked as he stretched, elbowing Marty again. Tirk was the eldest of the litter, even though they had all been born only minutes apart.

Well, Tirk, it’s believed that our grasses have richer nutrients that increase the growth of the weedy broadleaf plants, Mama explained while repositioning Marty.

What’s nutrients? Jax asked, while yawning, struggling to stay awake. He was the second oldest and wanted to be just like his big brother, Tirk, whom he idolized.

Let’s just say it tastes better and grows faster.

Oh, Jax acknowledged, satisfied with the simple answer. He stretched and then proceeded to curl himself into a ball next to Tirk, who was already fast asleep.

This was also the place where the majestic deer and antelope played. They are some of the larger plant-eaters of our prairie . . . Mama paused. Before continuing with her story, she looked down at her six pups. They had all drifted off to sleep.

Perfect, she thought as she extracted herself from the pile and made her way out of the nesting chamber. All this talk about lush grasses was making her hungry.

3

Marty woke up and found that he was all alone. Everyone had deserted him, but he heard chatter not that far away and felt comforted. He crawled out of the dried grass bed and exited the nesting chamber to go search for his brothers and sisters. He climbed through the tunnel towards the noise.

Get your foot out of my ear, Tirk groaned, wrapping his limbs around Erik and rolling him over. Now Tirk was on top of Erik, the third eldest. While Tirk’s back was turned, Jax used the opportunity to get the upper hand: he dove at Tirk, knocking him off Erik. But Sissy was not prepared to let her brothers have all the fun, so she jumped into the fray and right behind her was Effie who would not be excluded either.

Marty entered the chamber and saw an enormous ball of fur tumbling around with limbs flailing in every direction. He didn’t hesitate to jump right into the free-for-all, happily yelling, KURUKA! as he threw himself onto the pile.

STOP! Tirk shouted. Everyone froze. Marty was on top, excited to be playing, but looked around wondering why they had stopped.

What do you think you’re doing? Tirk growled.

Playing? Marty replied, feeling like he’d done something wrong.

Get out, Jax ordered.

Why? Why can’t I play with you guys?

Cause you’ll get hurt and we don’t want to hurt Mama’s favourite, now do we? Tirk spat. Now go. Find something else to do.

Marty bowed his head, rolled off the pile, and trudged out of the chamber. He wasn’t wanted or welcomed, and it hurt.

Can you imagine being the one who hurts Mama’s precious boy? Jax teased.

I sure wouldn’t want to be the one to make her mad, Erik added. And what does ‘kuruka’ mean?

Who cares? Jax grunted as he launched his body at Tirk.

Sissy felt sorry for her little brother. Marty, wait! she shouted as she chased after him.

Why don’t you just go back and play with the others? Marty grumbled. He had overheard his brothers’ taunts. How could he not, in such close quarters? Besides, it wasn’t as if they were trying to spare his feelings, and that bothered him even more.

Marty, I know what they said sounded mean. It’s only that their rough-housing could get you hurt. And nobody wants that, Sissy explained, especially me, because I think you’re pretty special.

Why, because I’m the runt? Marty barked.

No, and stop saying that, Sissy snapped. She wasn’t angry; she simply hated the label given to the smallest of a litter. I think you’re special because you have a caring heart. You have this burning need to understand everything around you. You want to discover and learn new things. You’re not like your brothers, who just want to goof-off and only ever think of themselves.

Thanks, Marty mumbled, feeling sorry for having taken his anger out on Sissy. She always knew what to say to make him feel better. She was the only one who ever showed him any kindness.

I should find Mama. She wanted to teach me about food storage. Will you be all right?

Yeah.

I’ll see you later, okay? Sissy assured him.

Okay. Marty watched Sissy turn around and head away down the tunnel.

Now what do I do? Marty pondered while he shuffled off. Maybe I’ll go explore some of the other tunnels.

4

Marty continued up the tunnel, away from the lower chamber where his siblings were playing. As he climbed, he noticed a few chambers to the right and left of the shaft. Up ahead, Marty noticed light filtering downward through the tunnel. Just before he reached the top, he saw a chamber tucked close to the surface. He ventured closer to investigate.

A listening post, he thought, when sounds from above drifted down. Maybe this is where you wait to make sure it’s safe to go out?

Mama had told all of them not to go topside without her. But a quick peek couldn’t hurt, he reckoned. He listened. Hearing nothing outside, he popped his head up and looked around. Seconds later, he ducked back inside. Mama was right, as far as the eye can see, he muttered to no one. He was amazed by the vastness of the grasslands, at least from his quick glimpse.

Since there was nothing more to inspect in this tunnel of the burrow, Marty headed back down. He passed the nesting chamber, which was only a little higher than the deepest part of the burrow and began exploring what was on the other side of the nesting chamber.

Marty found and followed another tunnel. Just before reaching the top of it, a channel branched off to the right. He entered. It went almost to the surface and then stopped: a dead end. Strange. Marty wondered why this particular tunnel had not gone through to the surface.

Marty headed back to the bottom of the burrow. Then he made his way further along the base. He explored two more tunnels, bringing the number of tunnels he had studied to four. He noted that all four tunnels were quite similar. Each had several chambers that opened off it: one that contained food supplies, others that functioned as sleeping quarters, and one that served as a toilet, that clearly needed to be cleaned out.

Marty had made a point of following each tunnel to the surface: he wanted to know what there was to see at the burrow’s exits. Each quick peek outside didn’t tell him much. One entrance had a mound of dirt around it, making it look like the crater rim of a mini-volcano. The other three had no mounds, just scattered dirt. Possibly one is the main entrance and the others are for emergencies. He wasn’t sure; he would check with Mama when the time was right

As Marty headed back down to the nesting chamber, it dawned on him that the entire burrow was a large U-shaped structure with two extra vertical shafts branching upward from one base. He also realized how exhausting exploring was: he’d been running up and down tunnels all day.

On his downward journey, Marty came across one of the small chambers. Perfect, he thought. He crawled inside, curled into a ball, and fell fast asleep.

* * *

What are you doing? Sissy blurted out, startling Marty awake.

Resting?

I’ve been looking for you for half an hour, she scolded. No one knew where you were. Are you okay? I was worried.

Yeah, I’m fine. I was tired, so I took a nap. I didn’t know it was so late. Sorry, Marty apologized.

Well, as long as you’re okay. Come on, it’s supper time.

5

Nothing moved among the clustered grasses or on the patches of bare soil of Nyasi, the prairie dog colony. That is, nothing moved until the sun crested the nearby hills and bathed its inhabitants with warmth and light. On this crisp, cool morning, six tiny prairie dog pups shivered at the bottom of the burrow’s entrance mound, waiting for the warmth of