Perfect for nature-loving 7-12 year olds, each issue of Nat Geo Kids is carefully curated to ignite curiosity and spark conversations about science and nature, empowering children to love and care for our beautiful planet.
Hello, lovely readers! This issue, we explore some of the sensational wildlife found right here in the UK and Ireland, with fun features about colourful puffins and adorable hedgehogs! Our roving reporter Annabel even visits Scotland to see the benefits of beavers with her own eyes! Plus, to celebrate World Book Day, six authors tell as about their brand-new books - turn to page 37 to find a World Book Day voucher, which you can exchange for one of their books. Yay! Also this month, we discover 30 cool facts about creepy-crawlies. There are tons of puzzles, too - can you master the mega maze?! See you next month!…
Monkey on the run! A Japanese macaque named Honshu escaped from his enclosure at Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland on 28 January and spent five days on the run! The ensuing monkeyhunt involved drones, thermal heat cameras and a special hotline for people to call with their sightings. Honshu travelled through undergrowth for almost 7km before turning around and eventually ending up in a backyard 2.2km from the park, munching food from a bird feeder. While the monkey was distracted by the grub on offer - including stale Yorkshire pudding - wildlife experts were able to tranquillise Honshu with a dart and take him safely home again. What a tail to tell the troop! Granny goes to school! Meet Salima Khan, a 92-year-old greatgrandma from Bulandshahr in India who goes…
Train living Er, yep, that train really is travelling through a block of flats! Liziba light rail station in Chongqing, China, is built on the sixth to eighth floors of a 19-storey residential building. The sound-proofing is said to be so good that residents don’t notice the rumbling of the monorail trains as they travel through the block. People living there definitely don’t have an excuse for missing a train, though! Waste race This quirky racing car has been made out of old iPhones, broken computers and Wii controllers! The recycled ride, named Recover-E, was commissioned by Formula E team Envision Racing to promote sustainability and highlight the growing problem of electronic waste. Clever! Chalk it up Artist David Zinn’s cute chalk drawings are brightening up pavements and walls all…
Micro monsters! What do you see in this otherworldly image? Dragon teeth? Aliens? Little yellow faces? It’s actually a close-up picture of some beachgrass! Austrian photographer Gerhard Vlcek took a sample of Ammophila arenaria grass, then painstakingly sliced and stained it with a special chemical before viewing it under fluorescent blue light. The picture shows a tiny 0.03mm cross-section (slice) of the grass. Whoa! “Staining and preparing the sample was very tricky,” says Gerhard. “After that, taking the photograph was easy!” His amazing picture won the ‘Micro’ category of the 2023 Closeup Photography of the Year contest. Great shot, Gerhard!…
It's over! PUFFIN PAIRS Like most seabirds, puffins mate for life.They pair up for the first time out on the ocean and, after mating, come ashore to nest. Couples greet one other on land by tapping their beaks together. Cute! Remarkably, after spending the winter apart, they return to the same burrow each summer. Welcome home! The oldest recorded puffin was 41, but experts think they could live even longer! DID YOU KNOW? Puffins are a type of auk - medium-sized, short-winged, diving seabirds. Other auks include guillemots and razorbills. RAISING PUFFLINGS! Puffin pairs have just one egg each season, which looks like a slightly squashed ping pong ball! They take it in turns to sit on the egg, which hatches after about four weeks. Just a few days later,…
One of the world’s largest rodents, beavers can weigh up to 30kg - that’s about the same as a Labrador retriever! They measure up to 1.3m long. Beavers are really territorial and won’t tolerate outsiders! If a beaver from another family tries to move in, they will be driven away or even killed. Eek! Beaver babies are called kits. Up to four are born each year to pairs who mate for life. After two years with the family, they leave to find territories of their own. Oi, this is MY dam! I can’t wait till I’m as big as you! BUILDING DAMS Ever wondered why beavers make dams to block rivers and streams? Well, they like to live in slow-moving or still water that’s more than 70cm deep. And if…
