Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 238 i National Geographic Kids (UK)

Happy New Year, Kids! How paw-geous is this issue’s cover star? The beautiful leopard lives in a protected park in India, alongside some big Bengal tigers. Turn to page 10 to read about this conservation success story, and learn how these predators can co-exist! Also this issue, we meet a very unusual kangaroo that lives up in the trees! Plus, we get the lowdown on life as a polar scientist from NG Explorer Prem Gill, and investigate some cool new gadgets! There are tons of puzzles, adventures, wacky facts and laughs in the issue, too – so turn the page and get stuck in… See you next month!…

When you think of kangaroos, you probably imagine Australia’s iconic marsupials – the red and grey kangaroos – happily hopping around down under. But did you know that there’s another type of kangaroo, one that prefers treetop living to life on the ground? The tree kangaroos of New Guinea, Indonesia and the far north of Queensland, Australia spend most of their lives up in the canopy, using their powerful legs to bound 30m up tree trunks where they forage for leaves, snooze and raise their young. Read on as we compare the red kangaroo – the world’s largest marsupial – with an endangered species of tree kangaroo found only on the island of New Guinea, the adorable Matschie’s (say “match-EES”) tree kangaroo… MATSCHIE’S TREE KANGAROO Vs RED KANGAROO Matschie’s tree kangaroos…

TREE CLIMBERS Kākāpōs can’t fly, but their favourite food – the fruit of the rimu tree -grows high up. So to reach the goodies, these birds use their beaks like an extra claw to help them climb. Kākāpōs (say “KA-kuhpohs”) are most active at night. These birds can live up to 90 years! SOFT LANDING Leaping off branches, these flightless birds can use their wings like a parachute to slow their descent as they fall to the ground. FEATHER FUNK Kākāpō feathers hold a strong smell that helps the birds find each other. Some people say the scent is like honey, but others think the smell is old and musty! Fewer than 250 kākāpōs now live in the wild, because of low breeding rates, disease and predators, such as stoats.…

Earth is home to some spectacular natural wonders – from towering mountains and exploding volcanoes to thundering waterfalls. Take this cool quiz to find out which amazing destination best matches your personality… If these descriptions don’t sound like you, don’t worry – these questions are just for fun! 1 Pick an item for your room. A. Fish tank B. Snow globe C. Lava lamp D. Velcro dartboard E. Ring light 2 Choose a cold treat. A. Mint chocolate chip ice cream B. Milkshake C. Hot fudge sundae D. Slushie E. Banana split 6 Which superpower sounds coolest to you? A. Breathing underwater B. Flying C. Invisibility D. X-ray vision E. Super-strength 7 Choose an activity. A. Snorkelling B. Snowboarding C. Hiking D. Visiting a water park E. Horse riding RESULTS Mostly…

What you’ll need ● 1/4 cup of sugar ● 1 orange ● 1 egg ● 1 tablespoon of butter, melted (ask an adult to melt it for you) ● Vanilla extract ● Salt ● 2 cups of desiccated coconut Start here! 1 Zest (finely grate) your orange until you have around a tablespoon of peel. 2 In a large bowl, stir the sugar and orange zest together. Add an egg and the melted butter and mix well. Makes 12–16 3 Next, squeeze in the juice from half your orange, plus half a teaspoon of vanilla essence and a pinch of salt. Then mix together. 4 Sprinkle in the coconut and stir until it’s all combined. 5 Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Use a small scoop or soup spoon…

Gigantic coral discovered! National Geographic scientists have discovered the world’s largest coral growing in the waters of the Solomon Islands, in the southwest Pacific. The healthy mega-coral, called Pavona clavus, is over 32m long (that’s longer than a blue whale!), 34m wide and 5.5m high. Mostly brown, but also dotted with vivid yellows, blues and reds, it’s made of nearly one billion tiny individual creatures called polyps, which have grown together for at least 300 years. The dome-shaped coral is home to tons of other marine species, like young reef fish, crabs and shrimps. Epic! Lost penguin! Meet Gus, the first wild emperor penguin ever to set flipper on Australia! These 1m-tall penguins usually live in the icy waters of Antarctica, but this bird swam more than 3,400km north to the…

Answers below Joeys Mums Answers: 1-E; 2-D; 3-G; 4-H; 5-B; 6-C; 7-F; 8-A.…

Sea Wings The world’s oceans are a stage for mobula rays like this Munk’s devil ray. They can launch themselves 1.8m into the air before plunging back into the water. Wow! Scientists think the leaps might help the rays impress potential mates. Water Run When green basilisks of Central America feel threatened, they can drop from a tree into the water and run across it! Extra skin on the lizards’ long back toes creates air pockets on the surface, allowing them to sprint for up to 4.5m. Amazing! Belly Flop Strong swimmers, long-tailed macaques dive into the rivers and swamps of Southeast Asia to escape predators. They also do it for fun! Dive Team Adélie penguins hunt in groups, diving under the Antarctic ice, looking for tasty krill. They also…

Answers on page 49 ● AFRICAN LEOPARD ● AFRICAN WILDCAT ● AMUR LEOPARD ● AMUR TIGER ● BENGAL TIGER ● BLACK PANTHER ● BOBCAT ● CANADA LYNX ● CARACAL ● CHEETAH ● CLOUDED LEOPARD ● EURASIAN LYNX ● FISHING CAT ● GEOFFROY’S CAT ● IBERIAN LYNX ● INDIAN LEOPARD ● JAGUAR ● JAGUARUNDI ● LION ● MARGAY ● OCELOT ● ONCILLA ● PALLAS’S CAT ● PUMA ● RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT ● SAND CAT ● SCOTTISH WILDCAT ● SERVAL ● SNOW LEOPARD ● SUMATRAN TIGER With long, flat heads, jaguarundis, from South America, sometimes look more like otters than cats! Thanks to their jumbo ears, servals have super-powerful hearing. They live in the savannahs and wetlands of northwest and sub-Saharan Africa. Weighing just 1kg (that’s the same as a bag of rice!),…

STUMP YOUR PARENTS (page 14-15) 1-B; 2-A; 3-C; 4-D; 5-C; 6-C; 7-B; 8-B; 9-(A-2; B-3; C-1; D-4); 10-B. BECOME A CAT TRACKER! (page 16–17) 1-Leopard B has a notch in its ear. Leopard A doesn’t; 2-Leopard B has three spots on either side of its face above its whiskers. Leopard A has two; 3-The spots on leopard B’s upper foreleg are further apart than on leopard A; 4-The spots on leopard B’s side are further apart than on leopard A; 5-Leopard B has more solid black spots running up its back leg than leopard A. 1-Tiger B has more white fur on its face than tiger A; 2-Tiger B has less white fur on its stomach than tiger A; 3-The stripes on tiger B’s side all run parallel. Tiger A…

Ball bonanza Belgian eco-designer Mathilde Wittock makes furniture out of old tennis balls – preventing thousands of them from ending up in landfill! Each Bounce Chair (main pic) contains 515 of the balls, which she dyes, cuts in half and slots together, without glue, onto a plywood frame. Game, set and match! Cirque du Ski! Freestyle skier Fabian Bösch has turned the Swiss Alps into a circus by adding hoops, trapeze swings, exercise balls and rails to the slopes. Fabian springs into some stunts off bouncy balls (see main pic above) and ski-jumps onto other snowy obstacles. This is snow joke! Pavement doctor Ever seen pot holes or cracked pavements and walls when you’ve been out and about? Well, French street artist Ememem fills in these cracks with beautiful mosaic…

PREM GILL Polar explorer Prem tells us about studying seals from space, working on Frozen Planet II, and connecting kids to the wonders of polar science! Seal-loving explorer Prem is on a mission to research two of Antarctica’s seal species and discover how their pack-ice habitat is being affected by climate change. To do that, he combines visits to the world’s most remote continent with studying seals from space. Eh?! “I point satellites at the sea ice, take pictures and then count all the seals in the images,” Prem explains. To make sure the tiny dots in the pictures are actually seals and not rocks, Prem also uses top tech to measure the unique light given o? by the animals, and record their body heat. He’s training Artifical Intelligence to help…

Giddy up, Wonkee, not far to go! 1325 Ibn Battuta (say “IBB-un bah-TOO-tah”) was born in Tangier (in present-day Morocco), North Africa, in 1304. His homeland lay at the western edge of where most Muslims lived, and he trained as a qadi, a judge who settles disputes according to Islamic law. In 1325, when he was just 21, young Ibn Battuta set out on a perilous journey – a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, which all Muslims are expected to make once in their lives. It was almost 5,000km away, and he set off alone, with no maps, riding on a donkey! 1326-1330 Ibn Battuta soon met up with other travellers heading for Mecca. On the way, he stopped to marvel at the great cities of Cairo…

Eastern grey kangaroo RANGE Eastern Australia SLIP-UP SPOT Yuraygir National Park, Australia PHOTO FAIL When a joey is about nine months old, it starts taking short trips outside of Mum’s pouch. But this little cutie discovered that getting in and out of the pouch can be tricky! Don’t be such a pouch potato! I’ll leave then! Somehow… Er, I didn’t know it was going to rain today… Oops, sorry! African buffalo and western cattle egret RANGE Both species are found in parts of sub-Saharan Africa SLIP-UP SPOT Meru National Park, Kenya PHOTO FAIL These egrets hitch a ride on grazing animals like African buffalo so they can nab the spiders, frogs or grasshoppers that are stirred up as the big bovines walk through grass. Bit rude that this cheeky bird…

Q. Where do kangaroos go when they’re sick? A. The hopsital! Q. What’s a kangaroo’s favourite type of music? A. Hip-hop! Q. Why shouldn’t you make a kangaroo angry? A. They get hopping mad! Q. What was the caterpillar’s New Year’s resolution? A. To turn over a new leaf! Q. Did you hear about the person who stole a calendar? A. They got 12 months! Q. What did the clock do when it felt hungry? A. It went back four seconds! Q. What did the monster eat after its teeth were taken out? A. The dentist!…