Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2022 i Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children

Islands are areas of land surrounded by water. Islands may be found in all bodies of water, from rivers and ponds to lakes and oceans. How do they get there? Continental Islands Continental islands are part of the same land that makes up a continent. They became islands when they broke off or when the ocean rose around them. A continent is one of the seven main land areas on Earth. It is much bigger than an island. Tidal Islands Tidal islands are a kind of continental island. But tidal islands are not surrounded by water all the time. At low tide, land connects the island to the shore. At high tide, it becomes an island again. Coral Islands Tiny sea animals called corals make coral islands. Coral islands start…

Islands are always changing shape. Sometimes you can see the change happening. A volcano can erupt and shoot out streams of red hot lava. When the lava reaches the ocean, it cools and forms new land. The island grows. But most changes are hard to see. Storms and wind blow dirt and sand from one side of the island and pile them up on another side. Waves wash away soil and rocks from one beach and carry them to another. The island changes shape slowly, a tiny bit at a time. People on some small ocean islands are worried, though. They think their islands are changing shape too fast. The islanders say waves rise higher and farther onto their shores than they used to. Storms and winds are growing stronger…

We love tropical islands. We love their sandy beaches, tall palm trees, and especially the coral reefs found in the clear, warm ocean waters around them. We’re not the only ones who love coral reefs. Many animals and plants live on coral reefs. Even part of the reef itself is alive! Come see. A coral reef starts when tiny animals called coral polyps attach themselves to a rock or to the seafloor. These corals have a hard covering over soft insides. The covering is called an exoskeleton. As the coral grows, it builds a bigger and bigger exoskeleton. When these hard corals die, they leave their exoskeletons behind. A coral reef is made from many layers of old exoskeletons covered by a thin layer of living coral. Animals called soft…

Strange things can happen to animals on an island. Isolated and cut off from many of the plants and animals they were used to, island animals often change their habits to suit their new surroundings. And over thousands of years, the animals change too. Some large animals find less food to eat on a small island. So over time, they grow smaller. Animals that use their small size to hide from enemies often have fewer big predators on an island. Instead of helping them, their small size makes it harder for them to compete for food. So the little animals grow bigger. Some animals change so much they no longer act like their mainland relatives at all. And some animals that were once widespread gradually died out on the mainland,…