Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 235 i National Geographic Kids (UK)

An ancient underground army made out of clay! Deep beneath the dry soil of China’s central Shaanxi province, an army of over 7,000 life-sized clay soldiers lay hidden for more than 2,200 years. This massive ‘ghost army’ wasn’t discovered until 1974, when a farmer stumbled upon some pottery fragments, and further excavations revealed an ancient underground burial site filled with clay warriors! It turned out they were surrounding the tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang (say “chin shur hwong”) to protect him in the afterlife. Back then, important people were buried with everything they’d need in their life after death. And for Emperor Qin Shi Huang, that included his army. Along with the soldiers, more than 40,000 real bronze weapons were discovered, plus clay horses and chariots to…

Rainbow ValleyValley of the Stars Brody Gamble To create this mesmerising ‘star trail’ shot of the sacred sandstone bluff s in Rainbow Valley, Brody lay on the red sand under clear skies and took multiple photos that he later combined. “This photo puts star time and geological time into perspective,” said the judges, who gave the pic first place in the Astrophotography category. Deep! Rainbow Valley, in Australia’s Northern Territory, is known as Wurre to the Arrernte people of the region. The largest species of jumping spider in Australia, these green beasties are just 12mm long. Tiny! Nest of Silk Oliver Lacey Fifteen-year-old Oliver found this female green jumping spider in his backyard, carefully weaving her silk into a nest. “I struggled to get her in focus as she scurried…

Answers on page 49 Can you find all these Halloween-related words lurking in this grid? One of them is hidden twice - but which word is it?! • BAT • BLACK CAT • BOO • BROOMSTICK • CACKLE • CLOWN • COBWEB • FRIGHT • GHOST • GHOUL • GOBLIN • HAUNT • HALLOWEEN • MONSTER • OGRE • PETRIFY • PUMPKIN • SAMHAIN* • SPECTRE • SPIDER • SPIRITS • SPOOK • TRICK • TREAT • VAMPIRE • WITCH • WIZARD *WHAT IS SAMHAIN? You’ve heard of Halloween, but what about Samhain (say “sow-wen”)? This traditional Celtic festival welcomes in the ‘dark half of the year’ (winter), and runs all through the night of 31 October. During this time, spirits are said to be able to cross into the…

Fishy mosaic unearthed! Wroxeter, then known as Viroconium, was one of Roman Britain’s largest cities! A 2,000-year-old mosaic floor depicting brightly-coloured dolphins and cute fish has been discovered at Wroxeter Roman City near Shrewsbury! The ancient artwork was a surprise discovery, unearthed while archaeologists searched for the city’s temple. Researchers think the mosaic decorated a townhouse owned by a wealthy Roman family in around AD 90. The team also found coins, pottery and a painted plaster wall on one side of the tiled floor. After taking lots of photographs, the team reburied the mosaic to preserve it, but they’ve recorded its location so it won’t be lost again. Phew! 750 new Australian species! A whopping 750 newly discovered organisms were added to the Australian National Species List in September, including animals,…

Cat video in space! This funny cat video is out of this world! A kitty named Taters starred in the first video sent from deep space - the part of space that starts just beyond the Moon. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which uses robotics to explore space, wanted to test the possibility of using a laser to transmit ultra-high-definition video across deep space. So Taters’ owner, a NASA employee, recorded the tabby chasing a laser (what else?!). Then the team put the video file onto a spacecraft that NASA launched into space to explore an asteroid. The 15-second video was successfully transmitted 30 million km back to the lab on Earth in just 101 seconds! This technology might one day help scientists learn more about planets like Mars and Venus.…

Fooled ya! The trick is used mostly by young opossums, which are less able to protect themselves from attack. Adults tend to fight back - they bare their teeth, hiss and screech. Outfoxed again! The dramatic behaviour might save the animal’s life! When attacked by a predator, an opossum - a small marsupial from North and South America - will sometimes flop over on its side, stick out its tongue and stare straight ahead. It then drools uncontrollably and emits a foul odour that smells like a rotting corpse. Even if the predator (such as a fox, bobcat or coyote) bites or paws at the opossum, it stays still for up to six hours! ‘Playing possum,’ as it’s known, confuses the predator until it looks away. Then, as if by…

TRICK OR TREAT Can you place the Halloween costumes listed below in this ghoulish grid? We’ve added some letters to get you started! • ALIEN • GHOST • MONSTER • NINJA • PIRATE • SKELETON • VAMPIRE • ZOMBIE GHOSTLY SUMS Use the numbers found in each ghost to complete these spooky sums… HAUNTED HOUSE Can you number these jumbled-up picture pieces, putting them in the correct order? TWO SUDOKUS Fill the empty squares so every row, column and 2x2 box contains the numbers 1-4. WEIRD WORDS Complete each word below by filling in its first letter. You’ll reveal something associated with Halloween. Answers on page 49 SPIDER SEARCH Which two spiders only appear once on these pages? MEMORY TEST Spend one minute looking at the eerie words and pictures in…

NDIMUH B. SHANCHO: BIG FROG FAN Goliath frogs are the world’s largest frog species, so conservationist Ndimuh was excited when he finally saw one of the house-cat sized amphibians in 2014. But that thrill was mixed with terrible sadness - because the giant frog was dead. It had been killed by hunters and was being sold by the side of a road as a super-sized snack. At least 20,000 goliath frogs are illegally hunted every year in southwestern Cameroon, where they’re also threatened by habitat destruction and pollution. Ndimuh knew he had to do something to help… FRIENDS NOT FOOD Ndimuh set up workshops teaching 100 local kids about the endangered frogs. The children wrote frog-themed poems, speeches and songs, and performed them on local radio and TV stations, calling…

ECO-HEROES OF THE MONTH Hey Nat Geo Kids, Every year me and my family do a rubbish collection at Rockham Beach in Devon. But this year the stairs to the beach had fallen down so we had to climb down a really steep slope to get there! Down at the beach we picked up lots and lots of rubbish. Some of the silly things we saw were a massive sponge that looked like SpongeBob SquarePants, and half-pairs of goggles! We also collected lots of bottle caps, fish wire, car tyres, pram wheels and even bottles with water in them! I’m glad all that stuff is no longer in the sea to be able to hurt poor animals. Teddy, 9 • Amazing work, Teddy and family! Hi NGK, To help protect…

ACROSS 1 A drink made from squeezed citrus fruit (6,5) 7 “What a_!” - that’s a shame! (4) 10 Meaty food that comes in rashers (5) 11 Kylie_-Australian singer of Padam Padam (7) 12 Alien spacecraft, possibly (1,1,1) 13 A healthy spice that turns food bright orangey-yellow (8) 14 Puzzles where you rearrange a word’s letters to make another word (8) 16 State in southwestern USA that’s home to the Grand Canyon (7) 18 Sport where you might see competitors do moves like a suplex or a half nelson! (9) 20 Sprint towards (3,2) 21 Family of musical instruments that includes the trumpet (5) 22 Choose someone by voting - a politician, for example (5) 24 Collective name for farm animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs (9) 26 A…

TRY OUT THESE ACTIVITIES SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Can you find 5 differences? Join brave Moana and quirky demigod Maui on a new journey of discovery, in MOANA 2 - only in cinemas November 29. After receiving a mysterious message from her ancestors, Moana is drawn back to the sea. Together with rooster Hei Hei and piglet Pua, she explores dangerous, forgotten waters. Ah adventure awaits that is more exciting than anything they have ever experienced before… YOUR KAKAMORA The Kakamora are wild, coconut-armored pirates. Draw a wild face on your Kakamora!…