Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 228 i National Geographic Kids (UK)

1,700-year-old egg! English archaeologists have discovered that one of the three ancient bird eggs they excavated in 2010 still has liquid inside! The egg was found in a waterlogged pit in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, alongside shoes, coins and pottery – probably placed there as an offering to gods. “It’s the oldest unintentionally preserved avian egg we’ve seen,” said Douglas Russell from the Natural History Museum. “There are older eggs that were deliberately preserved – like mummified ibis eggs from Ancient Egypt — but these Roman eggs were fresh when buried.” They’re certainly not fresh any more, though; the two other eggs broke when exposed to the air, releasing a very bad smell! The team now want to learn more about the egg – but there are no plans to make an…

Tree-mendous night's sleep Got a head for heights? Then check out this towering 33m-high hotel room – the tallest treehouse in the Americas! The Alta Sanctuary Treehouse, in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, is perched above the canopy so brave visitors can spend the day and night soaking up the sights and sounds of jungle life. Whoa! Snow monsters Ever seen trees like these ones on Mount Zao in Japan?! Called ‘snow monsters’, the natural sculptures are formed when the right combination of snow, strong wind and low temperatures cover trees in layers of snow and ice. Snow-mazing! Rubbish art Portuguese street artist Artur Bordalo, aka Bordalo II, creates gigantic murals and sculptures out of rubbish. He uses everything from plastic and metal to wooden doors, tyres and broken car bumpers. The…

GREEN KEEL-BELLIED LIZARD Native to Tanzania and Kenya, Africa Aquarium Berlin in Berlin, Germany LEAFY SEA DRAGON Native to waters off the coast of southern Australia Dallas World Aquarium in Dallas, Texas, USA FRINGED LEAF FROG Native to Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, South America Atlanta Botanical Garden in Atlanta, Georgia, USA LONG-EARED JERBOA Native to China and Mongolia, Asia Moscow Zoo in Moscow, Russia PURPLE VAMPIRE CRAB Native to Indonesia, Southeast Asia Petra-Aqua in Prague, Czech Republic…

THE BIG QUESTION Egypt's 147m-high Great Pyramid of Giza was the world's tallest human-made structure for nearly 4,000 years. It's just smart design! The reason so many historical cultures used the same idea is because of the shape's stability. A pyramid is the best way to build a tall stone structure that won't fall down. (Stone was a main building material for historical cultures.) The Ancient Egyptians constructed the world's tallest pyramid (see pic, above left) but pyramid-shaped monuments, temples and tombs have also been built in Asia, Europe, the Americas and some islands in the Pacific Ocean. Many people came up with the same concept, even though they lived far apart and at different times. Turns out, a good idea goes a long way!…

When you see these wacky images, you won't believe your eyes – and you shouldn't! The pictures are optical illusions that use colours, patterns, shadows and other methods to fool your brain into seeing things that aren't there. Check out these illusions and find out about the science that makes them so tricky… RAIN OR SHINE DO THIS Scan the ‘drops of water’ in this picture with your eyes. They'll start to trickle up and down. WHAT'S UP? Look closely at each blue droplet. You'll notice that one side of each drop is bordered by a dark shadow, and the other side is outlined in bright white. Some scientists believe that this shading provides a sense of movement, tricking your brain into seeing motion. The repeated pattern of the droplets might…

1 There are over 20,000 bee species on Earth – and most of them don't create honey! One species that makes the liquid is the honeybee, which has been used by humans for around 9,000 years. It takes 12 bees their whole lives to make just one teaspoon! 2 Foraging bees collect pollen from flowers using special branched hairs on their body. As they fly from plant to plant, sipping each flower's nectar, some pollen rubs off. This process, called pollination, helps plants reproduce. 3 Amazingly, 90% of wild plants and 75% of the world's food crops depend on pollination by bees and other animals to produce seeds, fruits and berries. Each bee can pollinate over 1,000 flowers per day, flying as far as 5km from home. Wow!…

1 Some evening primrose flowers smell like lemons. 2 Australia's rare Rhizanthella plants bloom underground. 3 To attract a mate, the male bowerbird builds a structure decorated with flowers. 4 Scientists think flowers first bloomed 130 million years ago. 5 An astronaut grew a sunflower on the International Space Station. 6 Frogs help pollinate the Brazilian milk fruit tree when they dive into its bell-shaped flowers to slurp nectar. 7 Archaeologists found 1,800-year-old bouquets under a pyramid in Mexico honouring a snake god.…

A species of PEACOCK SPIDER is nicknamed SPARKLEMUFFIN. A HONEYBEE HAS THE SAME NUMBER OF HAIRS AS A SQUIRREL – 3 MILLION. SNAILS SMELL WITH THEIR LIPS. THE SUN HAS HOLES IN IT. ELEPHANT MUMS COVER THEIR YOUNG IN A ‘SUNSCREEN’ OF DUST AND MUD. SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED A PROTEIN THAT CAN PREVENT ICE CREAM FROM MELTING QUICKLY IN HOT WEATHER. A MUSEUM IN DERBYSHIRE HAS A COLLECTION OF OVER 300 VACUUMS. There are approximately 3 trillion (3,000,000,000,000) trees on Earth.…

RAINFOREST ANIMALS These photos show close-up views of animals that can be found in the rainforests of Central and South America. Unscramble the letters to identify the creature in each picture. Bonus: Use the yellow letters to help you answer the joke below. Answers on page 57 JOKE: Where do rainforest animals go to sell their unwanted stuff? ANSWER: __ __ U __ __ __ __ __ __ L __!…

What you'll need • A selection of smooth, flat pebbles • Pencil • Bright acrylic paints and fine brushes • Black permanent marker pen or paint pen • Varnish (optional) You could stick magnets on the back of your pebble people and put them on the fridge! TOP TIP To make your pebble people last longer, add a coat of varnish. But check it doesn't make the colours run, first! Start here! Make sure you don't take pebbles from beaches or wild places. 1 Choose some smooth pebbles that you think will make good heads and body shapes. 2 Use a pencil to sketch your designs on the stones. 3 Add the colour first. For faces, paint on the whites of the eyes, the hair and/or eyebrows, plus lips or…

APRIL 25 World Penguin Day Read all about them at natgeokids.com/uk/penguins MAY 5 International Dawn Chorus Day Listen to the birdsong this morning! MAY 6 Early May Bank Holiday Say ‘yay!’ for a day off school! MAY 11 Eurovision Final How will UK pop star and actor Olly Alexander get on? MAY 20-24 Walk To School Week Challenge your family to travel on foot!…

National Geographic Explorer Joel is on a mission – he wants to photograph all 20,000 of the animal species living in zoos, aquariums and wildlife sanctuaries around the world for his project, the National Geographic Photo Ark. “I want people to look these animals in the eye and see the intelligence there,” he says. “And then I hope people will be inspired to help protect them.” Joel has so far photographed over 15,000 species, but each shoot has its own challenges! Here he tells us how he captured five of his amazing images. Moment of DASH Caracals, native to Africa, Central Asia and southwestern Asia Photo taken at Nashville Zoo in Nashville, Tennessee, USA “These caracal kittens were only four weeks old when I came to photograph them. And just…

EXPLORER OF THE MONTH! FACT FILE Name: Fernando Trujillo From: Colombia, South America Job: Marine biologist, conservationist and National Geographic Explorer Fun fact: “At first, the Indigenous people thought I was a dolphin that had become a human to protect other dolphins! They gave me the nickname Omacha, which means ‘pink dolphin’ in the local language. I was honoured!” Splash! A 2.5m-long, pink dolphin leaps into the air from the muddy waters of the Amazon River. Observing through binoculars, marine biologist Fernando notes down the sighting. He's been monitoring the river's two dolphin species – Amazon river dolphins, known locally as botos, and grey dolphins, or tucuxi –for over 35 years, watching first-hand as their populations have decreased. “They're threatened by overfishing, hunting, hydroelectric dams and pollution from gold mining,”…

HUGE HORNS Albino the Capra Sempione goat strutted into the record books in 2021 for having the world's largest horn spread for a goat. From tip to tip, his horns spanned 146cm – about the height of an 11-year-old child! Owner Roland Fercher, from Naters in Switzerland, says Albino would guard and protect the farm's baby goats, called kids. Colossal and caring! BIG OL’ HULA HOOP Yuya Yamada didn't jump through any hoops to set a record… but he did spin a really big one! Yuya, from Japan, holds the record for the largest hula hoop spun by a man – he twirled the whopping 5.4m-wide hoop around his waist three times. Whirly good going! CAKE DRESS Swiss baker Natasha Coline Kim Fah Lee Fokas created and modelled the world's largest…

THE MET OFFICE (page 19) MET OFFICE QUIZ 1-A; 2-C; 3-A; 4-C; 5-B. ARE YOU A WEATHER WHIZZ? 1-False; 2- True; 3- True; 4-True; 5-False. SPOOKY SEARCH (page 37) PIRATE LINGO (page 45) 1-B; 2-D; 3-E; 4-A; 5-C. WELCOME TO GREENVILLE! (page 48–49) WHAT IN THE WORLD? (page 50) TOP ROW: LEAFCUTTER ANT, BATS, POISON DART FROG. MIDDLE ROW: VIPER, SLOTH, JAGUAR. BOTTOM ROW: ANTEATER, CAIMAN, TOUCAN. BONUS: A JUNGLE SALE! CROSSWORD (page 51) BRAIN BOOSTERS (page 52–53) CLIP CLOP QUEST 5 and 9 appear once. SEAL SEARCH They can dive down 120 metres. SUMS SCRAMBLE C, D, F, G, I, and L all have the same answer: 26. MEGA SUDOKU FEATHERY FIT WHICH WORDS? TOUCANS, SATSUMA, ARROW and AROUND can't be made. INSECT SAFARI WORD MATCHING 1-F; 2-D; 3-H;…