Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2019 i National Geographic Kids

Although we don’t see space junk in the sky, it’s there. Millions of pieces of debris are floating around Earth just beyond the clouds, farther than the eye can see. Read on to find out what’s up there. 1965 Year astronaut Ed White lost one of his gloves during a space walk 20,000+ Pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting Earth MILLIONS Pieces of debris that are so small they can’t be tracked 500 MILES Distance most space junk floats above Earth’s surface 17,500 MPH Speed that objects travel through space. At this high speed, even the tiniest piece of junk can be a serious hazard. Space shuttle windows have been damaged by pieces as small as a fleck of paint! 500,000 Pieces of debris the size of a…

In this excerpt from Explorer Academy: The Falcon’s Feather, Cruz and his classmates are attempting to rescue a group of right whales entangled in fishing nets. Cruz is assigned to communicate with the mammals while underwater, using a helmet-like device called the Universal Cetacean Communicator (UCC) that converts human language to whale-speak and vice versa. Cruz encounters one of the whales and urges his friends to followbefore it’s too late. But it turns out the whales aren’t the only creatures in danger. Cruz also finds himself fighting for his life ... FOR A MOMENT, CRUZ COULD ONLY STARE AT THE 70-TON ANIMAL. Mesmerized by its beauty, he felt so tiny. As he started to speak, he heard a noise that sounded like a baby elephant trumpeting. Had that come from…

LABRADOR RETRIEVER HEIGHT 21 to 24 inches WEIGHT 55 to 80 pounds ORIGIN Newfoundland, Canada CLAIM TO FAME With webbed feet and strong tails, Labs are great swimmers. They were first bred to retrieve fishing nets from the water. FUN TO KNOW Some Labs work with rescue teams to save people trapped by avalanches, floods, or other natural disasters. Tampa Bay, Florida Whenever Kasi the cheetah wanted Mtani the Labrador retriever’s attention, he chirped like a baby bird. Mtani responded by chasing Kasi’s tail. “They absolutely loved spending time together,” says zoologist Mike Boos of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, where the friends lived. The animals were introduced shortly after Kasi was abandoned by his mother. Caregivers brought over Mtani from an animal shelter and began supervising playdates for the pair.…

Can you speak squirrel? How about hippopotamus? Talking to animals isn’t just for Dr. Dolittle. In fact most people can learn to do it. Reading animals’ body language is one way. Another trick is to teach animals human-speak—in the form of words, symbols, sounds, or gestures. It’s usually easier to teach animals to understand us than it is to get them to say things. But sometimes the human-animal bond is so strong that something like a conversation happens. Check out four true stories about chatting with animals. HORSING AROUND When an upset horse charged Dennis Wright, the animal communicator knew what to do. Horses communicate with their bodies—so Wright did too. First, he threw up his arms to mimic a rearing stallion and yelled. Spooked, the horse thundered away, and…

In the new book Explorer Academy: The Falcon’s Feather, 12-year-old Cruz Coronado breaks secret codes in order to fight dangerous villains and solve mysteries. Test your own skills by cracking the code on this page, then check out more about the book at ExplorerAcademy.com . THE CODE: FLAG CODE Secret messages can be hidden in real-life objects, including flags. Here, each flag represents the first letter of the country the flag belongs to. For example, the French flag would represent the letter f, and the Argentine flag would represent the letter a. Take a look at these flags from different countries below. CRACK THIS CODE! Using the first letter of each flag’s nation, decode the words below. BREAK MORE CODES! ExplorerAcademy.com WIN THE BOOK! TRY ONLINE FEBRUARY 12-19.…

THIS GUY ROCKS How do you stay awake while rocking in a rocking chair for 75 hours and three minutes? If you’re Suresh Joachim, who holds the record for the longest time rocking in a rocking chair, you talk to your family, play guitar, and read about golf. And you definitely don’t listen to any lullabies! CAT BALANCES DICE Cat’s got your tongue—er, dice? Bibi the cat holds the title for the most dice stacked on a cat’s paw, balancing 10 on one paw. Bibi’s owner, Siew Lian Chui, achieved the feat by carefully stacking the dice on the feline’s paw while Bibi relaxed on the floor. In addition to balancing objects, the kitty can also grasp 13 playing cards with one paw. Now someone just needs to teach him…

Keepers entering the gorilla enclosure at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio often hear a noise that sounds like a babbling human. But it’s just Mac, a western lowland gorilla. The ape greets his caregivers by making long, low grumbling sounds, gorilla-speak for “Hi, there!” When keepers exit the area in the evening, he makes a similar sound as if to say “Good night.” Mac isn’t just making noise. Gorillas like him have things to say. And if you pick up a little gorilla language, you just might understand them. “Apes are excellent communicators,” Columbus Zoo curator Audra Meinelt says. And sound isn’t the only way gorillas “talk.” They use movements and even body odor to get their point across. It’s no wonder experts think gorillas are among the most advanced…

THE ENGINEER “Don’t be afraid to take things apart. Play with them, see how they work, and experiment on your own.” Topher White attaches recycled cell phones to trees in remote rain forests around the world, hoping to pick up the sounds of illegal loggers. He describes trying to work while being swarmed by bees. “Even though the forests can be home to illegal loggers, sometimes what’s going on in the treetops is scarier than what’s on the ground. One time I was installing a phone, and bees kept landing on me. Eventually I was completely covered with them! But I had to finish the job, even if it meant getting a lot of bee stings. “The phones I place each have an app that turns the phone into a…

WACKY SCHOOL SUBJECT Nat Geo Kids readers can’t wait to do their homework for these weird classes.…