a tree trunk a calf a cow a bull

Ticks

People have taught animals to do tricks for thousands of years. Bears can walk on two legs, so people taught them to dance. Monkeys walk along branches, so people taught them to walk on a tight- rope. Seals throw fish in the air so people taught them to throw balls in the air.

Sometimes people give animals food when they do a trick. The animal wants the food, so it does the trick, and it is happy. Sometimes people are unkind to animals. Some people hit animals when they do not do tricks. Some people keep animals in very small cages.

People have done tricks for thousands of years, too. In India there is an old trick: the boy and the basket. A boy gets into a basket and a magician pushes a long knife through the lid many times. The boy is lying round the sides of the basket! Then the magician takes the knife out. ‘The boy is dead!’ people think, but then the boy gets out.

Magicians often hide things. They hide handkerchiefs in a hat and then pull them out. They hide rabbits, too. In 1991 in the United States a magician did 225 different tricks in two minutes!