Sheila Keating, age 13, of Omaha, Nebraska, for her question:

What is a saluki?

The saluki has the distinction of being one of man's oldest animal friends. This big, beautiful dog is built somewhat like a super greyhound with extra fringes of long, silky hair on his ears and legs. His history goes back to the Middle East where he was bred and cherished. He was found in Egypt at least 8000 years ago and also lived among the Arabs of nearby countries. Certainly the graceful dog joined the human family long before people learned to read and write.

The long legged fellow is one of the fastest runners of the dog world and ancient history tells how he was trained to hunt the fleet footed gazelle. Sometimes he was teamed up with trained hawks. The hawk would swoop down on a fleeing gazelle, strike and wound it with his mighty talons. Then the well trained saluki would speed off and hold the victim captive until man the hunter arrived for the kill.