Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023, issue 103 i Eco Kids Planet Magazine

I often have stories about whales. This time, I have lots of stories from Wales. And I expect Rusty’s page will make me wail! SUPER-SPREADER SURPRISE! We think of bees as nature’s hardest-working pollen-spreaders. They’re always at it, buzzing from flower to flower. Of course, they don’t know they’re helping plants to reproduce. They collect nectar and pollen from flowers to feed their young. It just so happens that when they take pollen from one plant to another, it allows that second plant to create healthy seeds. Some even say we can thank bees for up to one in every three bites of our food. But a groundbreaking new study says night-flying moths are faster pollen-spreaders! It found that 83% of insect visits to bramble flowers happened during the day.…

Sometimes, the most unlikely creatures jump – in the most unexpected ways! When beetles boing! Click beetles jump without using their legs. If you touch one, it rolls on to its back to play dead. When you’ve gone, it needs to flip over to get back on to its feet. No problem! The beetle bends itself, hooking a spine into a notch on its abdomen – the end part of its body. Then it releases it like a spring, flicking the beetle upwards with a click. It can hurl itself up to over 20 times its body length! Then it lands… ahem, on its back again, half of the time. Yes, click beetles often do several fantastic flips before finally landing the right way up. Leaping Larva! Gall midge maggots…

Lift the leaf carefully – you never know what’s hiding underneath! This colourful tree frog has paper springs for legs, so it can jump out from the page. It’s ideal for birthday cards for your friends and family – thanks to the jumping surprise it hides inside. You will need: Coloured paper and card A ruler A pencil Scissors A glue stick Coloured pencils and pens Step-by-step instructions 1. Cut two strips of paper or thin card measuring about 1cm by 20cm. 2. Glue these at one end at right angles to each other. 3. Fold the bottom strip over the top strip and repeat. 4. You will see a spring start to form. 5. Continue until your strips are fully folded. Put a dab of glue at the end to stop…

JUMPING CROSSWORD ACROSS 3. Home to lemurs 5. The highest-jumping marine creature 6. ‘Dancing lemur’ 8. Rock-jumper 9. Kangaroo rat’s habitat DOWN 1. Mountain lion 2. These fish leap up waterfalls to return to their birthplace to lay eggs 4. Baby froghoppers 6. A small antelope known for its pronking skills 7. Soft tissues that connect muscles to a bone TRUE OR FALSE QUIZ A Kangaroos can hop both forwards and backwards. B Trap-jaw ants jump with their jaws, not their legs. C Jumping spiders hop across their webs to reach prey. D The froghopper is a high-jumping amphibian. E We could jump higher on the Moon than on Earth. FROG MAZE Help the frog jump to the water lily. SPOT 10 DIFFERENCES FIND THE CORRECT SHADOW JOKE CORNER…

Belle: Which species of sea creatures can jump out of the water? Sea creatures jump all over the world, in every sea from Antarctica to the Arctic. Fish that jump include needlefish, flying fish and salmon. Bigger marine creatures like dolphins and whales are often seen breaching the surface. Penguins can jump, too. Ali: How do they jump when they don't have legs? There are a few different ways that sea creatures jump. Some creatures shoot water jets that push them out of the water and through the air. Salmon and flying fish beat their tails quickly and break through the top of the water. Some use something called a C-start. This is when the fish moves upwards by curving its body into a shape like a C. Another way…

Lots of animals have evolved to jump. It’s all about escaping predators, catching prey or traversing their habitat. Scientists seem to disagree about which ones can jump the highest, fastest or furthest, so I just decided to choose a few of my favourites… 1. KANGAROO RAT - brilliantly bouncy, super-speedy, ultra-furry bundle of energy! You might be surprised to learn that kangaroo rats aren’t kangaroos, rats or even mice. But they ARE high-jumping mini-ninjas! These fluff-balls can jump 10 times their hip height, and leap over two metres in one bound. Kangaroo rats are very cute, small, bipedal rodents. They have enormous back legs and tiny front paws, meaning they really do look like micro kangaroos. K-rats (as they are known) live in burrows in North American deserts. They come…

In March’s ‘Built for Speed’ issue, we asked you to draw a race between two or more animals. Thank you to everyone who sent us their entries. So many strong (and cheeky) animals racing to the finish line – on land, in the sky and in the sea! Congratulations to our five winners Soumia, age 11, Broxbourne The Fox and Snail Race Ella, aged 9, Inverness Win the Race! Rebecca, age 8, Whitland I made this drawing of a race between a cheetah, a jackrabbit, an elephant and a snail. I hope you like it! Forrest, aged 8, High Wycombe Cheetah vs Ostrich vs Peregrine Falcon Natalia, age 9, Cheltenham The Race in the Desert To see more of your amazing entries, go to www.ecokidsplanet.co.uk/animal-race-competition…

MONTHLY COMPETITION You learned in this issue about endangered sifakas, the leaping lemurs of Madagascar. For this month’s competition, we’d like you to design a ‘Save the Sifaka’ poster to raise awareness about these unique primates. Send us your entry before 10th June 2023, and we’ll publish our favourites in the July/August 2023 issue of Eco Kids Planet. Plus… FOUR lucky readers will win this beautiful jigsaw puzzle from Wentworth. Kittens' Reflection Wentworth Puzzles This charming 40-piece wooden jigsaw puzzle depicts a trio of kittens reflected in a puddle of water. Their reflections show their big-cat counterparts. With plenty of detail, soft colours and cat-themed whimsy, this is the purr-fect puzzle for all feline lovers. Made in the heart of the British countryside, this premium quality puzzle is a sustainable…