Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 243 i National Geographic Kids (UK)

Hi Kids! We're mutts about this issue's cover feature – it's all about ten incredible pups whose sensitive snouts are saving human and animal lives. Pawsome! If cats are more your bag, check out the African golden cats on page 18, who NG Explorer Mwezi Mugerwa is working hard to save. There are more animal rescues on page 22, as we follow the journey of an orphaned sun bear. So cute! Plus, on page 36, find out what pangolins have in common with superheroes (it's more than you think!). Also this month, we go a swashbuckling ride through history with six fearsome pirates – shiver me timbers! Enjoy the issue!…

Secrets of the Penguins NG Explorer Bertie Gregory tells us about his brrr-illiant new series! Hi Bertie! Penguins are well-known animals – but you set out to find their secrets! What did you discover? One of my favourites is that emperor penguin chicks form friendships! They huddle together to get through storms. And after being abandoned by their parents at five months old, these little gangs make their way to the sea together. What was it like watching them enter the ocean for the first time? Emotional! We filmed this one group of young penguins who took a wrong turn and found themselves at the top of a 50-foot ice cliff (below)! It's the equivalent of going for your very first swimming lesson but there's no teacher and you have…

“Seeing an African golden cat is JAW-DROPPING!” Mwezi says. The conservationist works in the dense rainforests of western Uganda, where he installs small wildlife cameras onto trees, hoping to capture pictures of the elusive mammals. “I've worked with the cats for 15 years and I've only seen them with my own eyes three times in the wild – and then only for a couple of seconds! But I'll never forget it.” About twice the size of a domestic cat, these mysterious felines are Africa's rarest and least-understood wild cats. But Mwezi is determined to bring them into the spotlight… FACT FILE Name: Mwezi ‘Badru’ Mugerwa From: Uganda, East Africa Job: Conservationist and National Geographic Explorer Hobbies: Mwezi loves playing football and cooking his fave food, chapatis and bean stew! African golden…

Man walks 85km in curlew costume! While many of you spent the Easter weekend hunting eggs and gobbling choc, conservationist Matt Trevelyan from the Nidderdale National Landscape team had a very different experience. He dressed as a giant bird and went for an 85km walk! Bird-lover Matt wanted to raise awareness of the Eurasian curlew, an elegant wader with a long, curved beak and wailing call. Once common across the UK's moors and farmland, the little-known bird's numbers have plummeted by 60% in the last 50 years, due to industrial farming and climate change. So Matt took action by donning a homemade curlew costume and setting off on a two-day hike along the Nidderdale Way in Yorkshire. He chatted to locals about curlews on the walk – and got LOTS of…

Cave camping! Nat Geo photographer Robbie Shone and his fellow explorers had been walking through San Wang Dong cave in central China for three hours, heading deeper and deeper inside when, finally, they passed the furthest point of exploration. “From that moment on, everything we saw was new to human eyes,” Robbie explains. Because it had taken the team so long to reach that point, they decided to spend the night in the cave and continue their trek in the morning. “We moved rocks to make space for our sleeping bags, hung up hammocks, lit candles and ate freeze-dried meals,” he says. That's when Robbie noticed a crevice high up on the cave wall. “I thought it would be a great place to take a photo of the camp,” he…

Why are pirates called ‘pirates’? Because they arr! 1 MYTH: Pirates said “arr” and “matey” all the time. BUSTED! You can blame movies for this myth. An English actor who appeared in 1950s pirate films played up his West Country accent and also overdid it a bit on the made-up pirate slang. His take on ‘pirate speak’ stuck. But no evidence proves that real pirates said “arr”, “matey” or “me hearties” very much. 2 MYTH: Pirates made treasure maps showing where they buried their loot. BUSTED! No pirate treasure maps have ever been found. And because each crew member expected to get paid after an expedition, they usually split up their loot instead of burying it. Old Hollywood movies such as Treasure Island have been blamed for starting this myth. 3 MYTH: All pirates…

● A4 coloured paper ● Ruler ● Scissors ● Stapler ● Glue ● String 1 First, prepare your paper! Take one piece of A4 paper and cut four 2cm-wide strips from its length. Take another colour of A4 and cut four 2cm-wide strips widthways. 2 Take the four longer strips and lay them out so they criss-cross, as shown. 3 Take the end of one of the strips and gently loop it into the centre, followed by the opposite end, holding them in place with your finger as you go. Repeat with all the strips and then put one staple through the centre to hold the loops together. 4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the smaller strips, then glue the smaller rosette on top of the bigger one. 5…

If you've ever taken a dog for a walk, you'll know how much they love a good sniff – on lampposts, fences, patches of grass and lots of other dogs’ bums! That's because dogs’ noses are incredibly sensitive, picking up scents (and ‘messages’) that we humans can't detect. Remarkably, dogs have about 300 million smell receptors in their noses (we have just six million!), and so for centuries, their super-sense has been used to help humans – from solving crimes and finding missing people to detecting diseases and tracking down rare wildlife. Read on as we meet ten clever (and cute) canines who've learned to detect some VERY surprising scents… 1 BARLEY THE POOP SLEUTH BREED: Border collie WHERE: Alaska, USA Ball-obsessed Barley was a terrible family pet. With endless energy and an…

Clark Kent and Peter Parker – the alter egos of Superman and Spider-Man – don't really stand out. And neither do drab pangolins in the tropical forests and grasslands of Africa and Asia where they live. But like your favourite movie superheroes, these animals have a few hidden powers. Check them out… SPIDER-MAN STICKINESS! Spider-Man shoots out sticky strands of webbing from his wrists to swing from one skyscraper to another. And when a pangolin is hungry, it shoots out its sticky tongue, which extends up to 40cm out of its mouth! Coated in gluey saliva, the licker scoops up ants and termites, the pangolin's favourite snacks. Scientists think the mammal can eat 70 million insects a year. Makes sense that this super creature would have a super appetite! TONGUE…

● ABYSSINIAN ● ASIAN ● BALINESE ● BENGAL ● BIRMAN ● BOMBAY ● BRITISH LONGHAIR ● BRITISH SHORTHAIR ● BURMESE ● DEVON REX ● CHARTREUX ● KORAT ● MAINE COON ● MANX ● RAGDOLL ● RUSSIAN BLUE ● SIAMESE ● SPHYNX ● TURKISH VAN DID YOU KNOW? About 90% of pet cats in the UK are ‘moggies’ – cats with unknown or mixed ancestry. ‘Tabby’ cats are not a breed either. The word describes their coat pattern, with dark swirls, stripes or spots on lighter fur and an ‘M’ on the forehead!…

RAVEN WATCH (page 8) There are nine ravens on the page. SEARCH AND SUMMON (page 21) MYSTIC MAZE (page 35) The word is TEAMWORK. MUSEUM MYSTERY (page 45) UNDERCOVER WOLF HOT RIDDLE FIRE. CROSSWORD (page 49) TRAIN YOUR BRAIN (page 50–51) GNOME SEARCH 6 and 11 are only shown once. AROUND EUROPE MEGA SUDOKU TREEMENDOUS! 1-MAPLE; 2-OAK; 3-PALM; 4-WILLOW; 5-BIRCH. MATHS MIX-UP A, E, G and J have the same answer: 16. ODD ONES OUT 1-CLOUDS (the others are in space); 2-CARROT (it's a vegetable but the others are fruit); 3-WEEKEND (the others are seasons); 4-BICYCLE (the others have four wheels). SPACE RACE MERCURY. WHICH WORDS? Apart from EASTERN, EARLY and STARTED, all of the words can be made. PICTURE PERFECT UMBRELLA. SPOT THE DIFFERENCE (page 52) CAT WORDSEARCH (page…