Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i National Geographic Kids

‹‹ Deep in the South American rainforest is … a chocolate tree? One-foot-long bright yellow pods hang from its branches. Inside are small, bitter seeds that give the tree its name: cacao (cuh-COW). Those seeds are what we use to make chocolate. The seeds—which grow only near the Equator—don’t look or taste delicious. But ancient people figured out how to use them to make tasty treats. (In fact, the first part of the seed’s scientific name, Theobroma cacao, translates to “food of the gods” in Greek.) Check out this timeline for the sweet scoop on the history of chocolate. 1 3300 B.C. The earliest people known to have used the cacao plant are the ancient Mayo-Chinchipe people of what’s now Ecuador, a country in South America. Experts aren’t sure whether these…

RED ALERT These photos show close-up views of red things. Unscramble the letters to identify what’s in each picture. ANSWERS ON PAGE 33…

1. stargazer (a type of fish) 2. arctic fox 3. pygmy seahorse 4. harlequin crab 5. katydid 6. common chameleon Answers “Stump Your Parents” (pages 28-29): 1. A, 2. A, 4; B, 1; C, 3; D, 2; 3. C, 4. A, 5. D, 6. A, 2; B, 4; C, 1; D, 3; 7. B, 8. A, 3; B, 4; C, 1; D, 2; 9. D, 10. A, 11. B, 12. A, 13. B, 14. C, 15. B, 16. D, 17. A, 18. D, 19. A, 20. B. “What in the World?” (page 30): Top row: raspberries, bicycle, ruby. Middle row: gloves, red fox, peppers. Bottom row: sneakers, pomegranate, cardinal. “Find the Hidden Animals” (pages 32-33): 1. B, 2. C, 3. D, 4. F, 5. E, 6. A.…

OWL SNUGGLES WITH DUCK North Yorkshire, England Someone forgot to tell Larch the long-eared owl that owls sometimes hunt ducklings. His first best friend? A white-crested runner duck. The two young birds spent hours together preening (also called grooming) each other’s feathers at the Kirkleatham Owl Centre where they both hatched. Paired up because neither had siblings, the birds immediately bonded. The two often napped together, remembers center manager Craig Wesson. Dark, fuzzy Larch would fall asleep on top of his fluffy duck friend, and when the duck woke up, she sometimes stood up so fast that the little owl tumbled off. This never bothered Larch, but the duckling’s fondness for water was a bigger problem. Owl feathers aren’t waterproof like duck feathers, so it’s hard for owls to get…

1 YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Near the rocky shores of California and Mexico’s Baja California, a neon Spanish shawl nudibranch is hard to miss crawling on corals or fluttering through open water. This flashy finger-length slug gets its bright color by recycling pigments from its favorite food, tiny plantlike jellyfish known as hydroids. GNARLY NUDIBRANCHS THEY MIGHT BE NICKNAMED “SEA SLUGS,” BUT THESE CREATURES ARE ANYTHING BUT LAZY. 2 PATTERN PLAY Fluorescent stripes and polka dots turn Nembrotha kubaryana’s costume into a can’t-miss warning sign for potential predators. Distinguished by its often orange edging, this nudibranch lives in tropical western Pacific and Indian Ocean waters and can grow up to 4.7 inches long. 3 DEADLY SURFER The thumbnail-size blue dragon cruises tropical oceans, using a stomach bubble to float on…

Where does the secret staircase lead? Will Cruz find his way back to the ship? Check out Explorer Academy: The Tiger’s Nest to find out! “What are you waiting for?” Sailor gave Cruz a push. “Go!” Hurtling the rope, Cruz scooted into the cramped space between the tower and the back wall. He fell to his knees and began running his hands over the marble. The swirls had to be here. They just had to! Halfway around the column, however, he was starting to wonder if he’d been wrong. None of the scrollwork looked like his mom’s cipher, the secret code she created. “Cruz!” It was Sailor. “Security!” Cruz tried to pick up the pace, but his palms were sweaty. His hands kept slipping. Plus, he couldn’t go too fast…

The Taj Mahal in India might look like a fancy home for important kings and queens. After all, it was likely the inspiration for Aladdin’s palace. But no one ever lived here: It’s actually a tomb. Who’s buried inside? Read on to find out! MEET THE MAKER For over 200 years, the Mughal Empire ruled over parts of what is today India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nepal. To become emperor, a royal male had to prove himself to be the best choice before being named as heir—but the family could still change its mind. That’s what happened to Shah Jahan, a third-born son who had been named heir but later fell from favor. When his father died, he returned home in 1628 to reclaim the throne. And just in case, he…

1. Fill in the thought balloon. 2. Cut out the entire picture (or make a photocopy of it). 3. Mail it along with your name, address, phone number, and date of birth to Nat Geo Kids, Back Talk, P.O. Box 96000, Washington, DC 20090-6000. Selection for publication in a future issue will be at the discretion of Nat Geo Kids. FROM THE MAY 2020 ISSUE I wish I had a back scratcher! Lyndsey R., 9 Louisville, Kentucky Does anyone have a beach ball? Sam G., 11 Goshen, New York Don’t disturb me. I’m in my happy place. Hazel J., 12 Hobe Sound, Florida Is there something on my back? Brody Q., 11 Bentonville, Arkansas Make sure to get my good side. Avery P., 9 Medina, Ohio Can someone help? I…

GET OUT OF HER WAY! Emma is a pretty speedy dog—even on two legs. The pup can run about 33 feet on her hind legs in 3.05 seconds, as well as jump five hurdles on her hind legs in 5.66 seconds. That’s the fastest time for those stunts by a dog. Emma’s tricks took years of training, but she had plenty of motivation during practice: a doggie treat at the finish line. SMOOSHED CAR You’ve probably never seen an electric car like this one. Measuring about a foot and a half from the ground to its highest part, the lowest roadworthy car runs on batteries instead of gasoline. Built by high school students and their teachers, the car is called the Mirai, which means “future” in Japanese. That’s a future we…

South Luangwa National Park, Zambia Pucker up! On a safari drive, guide Patrick Njobvu watched as a young hippopotamus emerged from the Luangwa River, walked over to a snoozing spotted hyena, and started to sniff. “The hyena didn’t run, and both started sniffing each other, nose to nose, almost like kissing,” Njobvu says. The two animals hung out together for about 20 minutes before walking away. Experts don’t know why the hyena didn’t run off—some think it might have been too scared to move, while others believe that it could’ve been feeling very relaxed. And the hippo? It was likely just being curious. Behavioral ecologist Rob Heathcote says that young animals like this hippo are often more curious as they explore the world and learn how to behave. The “kiss”…

STUMP YOUR PARENTS PRESIDENTS EDITION If your parents can’t answer these questions about U.S. presidents, maybe they should go to school instead of you! ANSWERS ON PAGE 33 1 Which president’s birthday does Presidents’ Day officially celebrate? A. George Washington B. Thomas Jefferson C. George W. Bush D. It doesn’t celebrate any president’s birthday. 2 Match the president with the item he installed in the White House. A. Lyndon B. Johnson 1. tennis courts B. Theodore Roosevelt 2. solar panels C. Harry S. Truman 3. bowling lane D. Jimmy Carter 4. a button to call for soda 3 As the first president to have electricity in the White House, Benjamin Harrison did which of the following? A. immediately bought a dishwasher B. flicked the lights on and off, over and over C. refused…

Ask a friend to give you words to fill in the blanks in this story without showing it to him or her. Then read out loud for a laugh. Every year on holiday my friends and I watch male celebrity the animal come out of his burrow. Legend says that if he doesn’t see his noun, spring will come early. If he does, we have six more weeks of noun. We wore adjective coats and article of clothing, plural to the ceremony because it was only small number degrees outside. After the mayor spoke, the animal past-tense verb out of his home. At first he didn’t do anything. Suddenly he darted up the podium and started to verb. “I’m verb ending in -ing my plans to run for type of…