Tara is a tarsier. She’s a timid-wimid tarsier. Tara’s really shy and she’s very sensitive to bright lights and loud noises. She’s therefore very happy to stay out of the spotlight. She enjoys spending time alone. And she even forages for her food alone, mostly at night.

Tara is also a very tender tarsier too. When she occasionally meets other animals, they take to her straight away because she’s so gentle and kind.

Tara lives in a forest by a big lake. She is as happy spending time in the treetops as she is in the low scrub vegetation on the lakeside.

One evening, Tara is asleep in the middle of a bush, when a rustling sound a few metres away wakes her up. She turns her head right around, a special trick tarsiers can do, to see what is making the noise. Through the branches of the bush, she can make out a crocodile. It looks distressed. It is shaking its big, long jaws backwards and forwards because something seems to be stuck in them.

“Out, out, out!” she hears the crocodile say.

Tara ventures out of the bush, warily. She turns her head right around (a special trick tarsiers can do) and spots Clara, a crocodile she’s met quite a few times before. She feels much safer now.

“Hey, Clara, are you OK?” she calls out, keeping her distance.

The crocodile stops moving and looks over towards her.

“Tara, is that you? Thank goodness you’re here. It’s bad enough I can barely see because my eyes are so itchy. Now, I’ve got a problem with my mouth too!” Clara replies.

Tara leaps over. She can see that Clara’s eyes look really red and sore. They’re watering too, but not because Clara is crying. Just because her eyes are trying to clean themselves. Clara also has a couple of empty plastic containers jammed in her mouth.

“How did this happen?” she asks, concerned.

“The eyes or the mouth?” Clara asks.

“Both!” says Tara, as she jumps on to Clara’s snout and starts to tug at what is between her teeth.

“Well, day-trippers and the lake tide leave behind plastic containers. Sometimes they float into my mouth when I’m having a drink of water. Then they get stuck.”

“How awful!” Tara comments, heaving at a plastic container.

Suddenly, it comes free. Tara rolls backwards off of Clara’s snout. She falls onto the ground.

“Thanks!” says Clara, smiling.

“No problem.” Tara replies. “And what about your eyes?”

“Well that’s because of the gas produced by that geothermal power plant just over there. It damages our eyes.”

Tara looks over towards the big building Clara’s snout is pointing at.

“It makes gas to hurt your eyes?” Tara can’t believe what she’s hearing.

“Oh no!” explains Clara. “My dad says the toxic gas is a side effect. The plant is designed to produce electricity using heat from underground water or steam. And there’s a lot of that around here. Dad says it’s mostly a good way of producing electric power. But the harmful gas gets given off in the process.”

Tara has particularly big eyes and knows how painful it is when they get irritated. Thinking about it, she realises that her own eyes have been getting a bit red and itchy recently. She wonders if the gas is affecting them as well. Tara doesn’t like to think of any animals having sore eyes. So she starts thinking about things that she might be able to do to help. As she does, she jumps back on to Clara’s snout to remove the other plastic container. She pulls hard and yanks it out, falling to the ground on her back once again. The container falls on to her face, covering her eyes. But because it’s transparent, Tara can still see through it. This instantly gives her an idea!

“Clara,” she says, excitedly, “I think I know a way we can stop your eyes from hurting.” She explains her idea and Tara loves it. She smiles a big toothy grin.

“Let’s try!” she agrees.

So, the tiny tarsier and the much bigger crocodile look at the litter around them. They try to spot more transparent containers and some pieces of string. There are quite a few of both these things in the waste at the side of the lake. Before long, they have found enough to start creating.

Clara begins by using her sharp teeth to make holes on either side of the containers. Then Tara uses her nimble little fingers to weave the bits of string through them. Clara then sits still whilst Tara attaches the first pair of goggles to her face. Tara ties the string in a bow around the spikes just behind Clara’s head, at the top of her back. “There, that should keep them in place!” She then positions the second pair of goggles over her own eyes.

“How does that feel?” Tara asks as she jumps down to the ground.

“It’s brilliant,” replies Clara enthusiastically. “Thank you so much. I’ll be able to wear them underwater and everything!”

Tara feels triumphant, in her own timid way. The gas from the geothermal plant won’t be able to get near Clara’s eyes now, or her own. So the redness and irritation will soon be gone. She’s helped recycle litter whilst also preventing Clara’s crocodile tears!

Questions for discussion

What does a geothermal power plant use to make electricity?

Can you think of other things that are used to produce electricity at a power plant?

Aside from plastic containers, what other items can be re-used? Why is this a good thing?