Animals Around Us
Primary 3 · Science and Elementary Technology
Animals Around Us
Lesson 3 of 3
13 min
Let's begin
Before the sun is properly up, Mutesi is already awake. She carries the jug out to the kraal, and her father milks the cow. Warm milk for her tea.
On her way back she looks inside the coop: two brown eggs. In the garden, the bean plants are tall and green, fed with manure from that same cow.
Milk, eggs, food for the soil — the animals give her family a great deal. So today, one fair question: what do the animals get back?
| Animal | What it gives us |
|---|---|
| Cow (inka) | Milk, meat, manure (ifumbire) for the garden, and hides for leather. A strong ox can also pull a plough or a cart. |
| Goat (ihene) | Milk, meat and manure |
| Hen (inkoko) | Eggs and meat |
| Sheep (intama) | Wool for warm clothes, meat and manure |
| Rabbit (urukwavu) | Meat and manure — and it grows fast on cheap grass |
| Dog (imbwa) | It guards the home and barks when a stranger comes |
| Cat | It catches the mice and rats that would eat the family's grain |
| Bees | Honey (ubuki) — and while they visit the flowers they help beans and coffee make their fruit |
| Wild animals | Gorillas, lions and elephants bring visitors to Rwanda from all over the world. Those visitors pay money, and that money helps the country. |
An animal cannot open a tap. It cannot walk to the market. It cannot call a doctor. If you keep an animal, you have quietly promised to do those things for it. It needs five things from you.
1. Clean water, every single day. A cow drinks a great deal. A dirty bucket makes an animal sick.
2. The right food, and enough of it. Fresh grass and leaves for the goat. Grain and greens for the hen. Never old, mouldy food.
3. A clean, dry shelter. Cold rain at night makes animals ill, and wet dirty bedding grows germs. Sweep it out.
4. Help when it is sick. An animal that will not eat, or stands with its head hanging low, is telling you something. A veterinary doctor — a vet — is the person who treats sick animals.
5. Kindness. Never beat an animal. Never throw stones at it. Never tie it so short that it cannot lie down. An animal feels pain exactly the way you do.
Mutesi keeps one rabbit. Here is her day, step by step. Copy it for any animal you ever keep.
Before school: she throws away yesterday's water and fills the bowl with fresh clean water. She cuts green leaves and puts them in the hutch.
Before she runs off: she watches the rabbit for ten seconds. Are its eyes bright? Are its ears up? Is it moving about? Yes — good.
After school: she scrapes the droppings and the wet bedding out of the hutch and puts in dry grass. The droppings go onto the vegetable bed as manure. Nothing is wasted.
In the evening: more leaves, more clean water, and she shuts the hutch properly so that no dog can get in during the night.
And on the day the rabbit will not eat: it sits very still in the corner and its leaves lie untouched. Mutesi does not wait and hope. She tells her mother that same day, and they call the vet.
That is what caring means: fresh water, good food, a clean dry home, a look every single day, and quick help the moment something is wrong.
Tip
Every animal needs the same four things that you need: food, water, a clean dry home, and kindness.
Before you leave the yard each day, ask yourself: has my animal got all four? If the answer is yes, you have done your job.
Warning
Staying safe around animals
Think it through, then check your answer.
Byiringiro's family keeps a cow. Name three things the cow gives them.
Answer: Any three of these — milk to drink and to sell, meat, manure for the garden, leather from the hide, and the pulling of a plough or a cart.
The hen's coop is wet and full of droppings, and it has rained for three days. Why is that dangerous?
Answer: Wet, dirty bedding grows germs, and cold wet birds fall sick easily. Scrape it out and lay down clean dry bedding.
Uwase wants the cow to hurry, so she runs up close behind it and claps her hands. What should she have done instead?
Answer: Never go close behind a cow — it cannot see you there and it may kick. Walk where the cow can see you, at its side, and speak calmly.
Ishimwe strokes the goat, then goes straight inside and eats his lunch with his fingers. What has he forgotten?
Answer: To wash his hands with soap. Germs from the animal can travel on his fingers into his food and make him ill.
Why is it good for Rwanda that the mountain gorillas are protected and not hunted?
Answer: Mountain gorillas live in only a few mountains in the whole world, and Rwanda keeps them safe in the Volcanoes National Park. Visitors travel far to see them and they pay to do it, and that money helps the country and the families living nearby. Caring for wild animals also helps us.
What you learned today
Quick check
Match each animal to what it gives us.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
