Day 5 - The Narrows

The Narrows is a park in Xenia, Ohio surrounding a stretch of the Little Miami River. Today our class went there and learned about the river and how it gets changed because of what we do and changes what's around it. The Little Miami River is surrounded by a wooded area on both sides making a buffer around the river and preventing some pollution from getting into it. The people we met with explained their background and how it related to water and showed us some things used to test water, then let us take samples and test for pH ourselves.

In the morning before leaving for The Narrows we made scripts for a skit that explained something about nature. Our group chose emus and the emu war that happened in Australia. After World War I there were about five thousand veterans that were given land on the edge of emu territory and many of them mae farms. About twenty thousand emus were breaking fences and eating the crops in the farms. The farmers didn't trust the minister of agriculture so went to the minister of defence instead who gave the farmers two machine guns, ten thousand rounds of ammunition, and two people trained to use the guns. Overall very few emus were killed and 9,860 rounds of ammunition were fired. Our script about the event is below, titled Running Wild.

Running Wild

Trenton: Good day, ladies and gents. This is Running Wild, with your host Rick Wylde. Today’s show is about Dromaius novaehollandiae, or the emu, a flightless bird native to Australia. It’s the second largest bird in the world, second only to the ostrich. They can grow up to 1.9 meters and can sprint at speeds of 50 kilometers an hours. That’s 6.2 feet tall and 31 miles an hour! With specs like that, there’s no wonder they won the Emu War of 1932!

Sam walks in, makes emu noises

Trenton: There’s one right there! Crikey! Big ol’ thing, isn’t he? Imagine this big bird running at you at 31 miles an hour! Now that’s a real terrifying thought! Now we have a recreation of that Emu War, courtesy of some friends of mine.

Tomas, Connor, and Jordan sneak past. One points at the emu and says “Crikey!” Sam turns and starts running at them. They run away. I laugh.

Trenton: Now isn’t that something! 10,000 bullets and they killed naught but 12 birds! Those emus must be a real fright, huh?