Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i National Geographic Kids

It takes about 100,000 YEARS for light to travel from the sun’s core to its surface.…

1 According to a study, puppies react more positively when humans use “baby talk.” 2 A baby alpaca is called a cria. 3 Babies of mammals that have large brains — like humans — take the longest to learn to walk. 4 Tyrannosaurus rex babies might have been covered in fuzz. 5 Scientists think that wild parrots might name their babies, just like humans do. 6 Silvery lutung monkeys are born with brightorange fur that changes to dark gray as they age. 7 Sandgrouse chicks drink water from their dad’s feathers after he soaks in puddles.…

Think pranks are just for kids? You’re in for a surprise! Wild animals use tricks to swipe snacks, hide from predators, and even steal from their friends. Read on to discover how these seven critters are masters of mischief—no joke! 1 PRANK CALLER Most of the time, meerkats in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa are glad to have a bird called the fork-tailed drongo nearby. While the meerkats dig for insects, they rely on the drongo to let out a screeching alarm call if a hawk, owl, or other predator approaches—then they’ll scamper back to the safety of their burrows. But this security system has a price. “Sometimes when a meerkat finds a tasty treat, the drongo gives a false alarm,” behavioral ecologist Mandy Ridley says. The meerkats drop…

An animal sprints across the savanna, startling a bunch of nearby zebras. It’s not a big cat, though. It’s an ostrich! These feathered creatures aren’t exactly what you picture when you think of birds. You’ll never spot an ostrich soaring gracefully across the sky or chirping softly on a tree branch. And instead of being easy prey, these African birds are totally capable of defending themselves against fierce predators like lions, cheetahs, leopards, and spotted hyenas if they have to. Discover five ways the tough ostrich isn’t just an ordinary bird. You think they’re harmless birds, but they can mess you up. Ostriches’ big eyes—the largest of any land animal—and fluttering, long lashes seem adorable. But watch out: These birds have some seriously scary moves. “An ostrich’s only defensive method…

MEAT EATER Bugs beware: The Venus flytrap has you on the menu. Most plants live on nutrients absorbed from the soil, but this devious diner lives only in swampy, low-nutrient dirt near the coasts of North and South Carolina. So to lure dinner (like flies and crickets), it oozes nectar inside its leaves. Attracted to the sweet yumminess, an unsuspecting bug that bumps against one alarm hair, then another, within 20 seconds will trigger the jaw-like leaves to slam shut. As the prey struggles, it bumps more hairs, and the plant releases digestive juices so it can eat. After about a week, the trap opens again—revealing the inedible bits—and the plant is ready to strike again. TRUNKY TALKER The forest might seem quiet, but that doesn’t mean the trees and…

How to Compost Grow a healthy garden and reduce waste by using leftovers to make your own compost, which is organic material that adds nutrients to the soil. Recycle the Natural Way By composting, you reduce the need for chemical fertilizers in your yard and send less waste to landfills. Yard trimmings and food scraps make up about 30 percent of the trash from cities and towns in the United States. So put that banana peel to good use. Turn it—and a lot of other things in your trash can—into environmentally helpful compost. By making natural fertilizer, you’ll help the environment and have a great excuse to play with your food! HOW TO MAKE COMPOST 1 Choose a dry, shady spot to create your compost pile. 2 Use a bin…

TRICK OUT YOUR TOILET Put sand or small rocks inside a halfgallon milk jug or water bottle, then top it off with water and close the bottle. Ask an adult to place it in the tank of your toilet away from any moving parts. Now the water bottle takes up room in your toilet tank—not new water. REDUCE THE WRAPPING Even though plastic sandwich bags can be recycled, they usually need to go to a special recycling center, which many people can’t do. That means the bags often end up in a landfill or blown into the ocean. Instead of plastic, wrap your sandwich or snack in a bandanna. Bonus: It doubles as a napkin! 3 DITCH WASTEFUL DISHWASHING Dishwashing machines actually use less energy and water than hand washing.…

TOWER OF GLASS Talk about keeping your chin up. Ashrita Furman can balance 81 glass mugs on his chin—the most ever. After stacking all the mugs and then placing them on his chin (with the help of an assistant), Furman held the glass tower for 12.1 seconds. He broke hundreds of mugs during practice sessions and always kept an eye out for a swaying tower. Because if it swayed too much, there was only one thing to do: Run! CAT HUMONGOUS WHISKER SPROUTS Being the cat with the world’s longest whisker is amazing enough. But what’s even more amazing is that Missi’s whisker is longer than a dollar bill, reaching a record 7.5 inches long. That’s a full inch longer than the previous record. Missi really did beat the competition by…

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania Horatio the cat has dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Arthur the aardvark, and even Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series. Why? The 12-year-old kitty belongs to a librarian, and his costumes show off the books available to borrow at the Centre County Library and Historical Museum. Horatio’s owner, Lisa Shaffer, chooses the characters based on library events or authors’ birthdays. Each costume takes about two hours for her to make, and Shaffer asks a pal to call the kitty’s name while she snaps pics. “He sees me take the camera out and is like, ‘Oh, a photo shoot? I’m ready,’” Shaffer says. The fashionable feline has donned hundreds of costumes so far. Says Shaffer: “He has more outfits than me.” —Elizabeth Hilfrank Superhigh…

According to cake artists, the best thing about baking fancy cakes isn’t eating them—it’s delivering their awesome creations to customers. “In the 50 years I’ve been doing this, the thing I most look forward to is someone’s reaction when I present them with their cake,” cake decorator Serdar Yener says. Cake artists like Yener use some cool tricks to inspire these reactions from customers—and to make their baked goods look extra-realistic. A few of these artists spill their secrets here. SWEET TOOTH, ER, TEETH Makeup artist Molly Robbins decided to try painting cakes instead of people’s faces after making desserts that resembled her customers’ pets. She eventually moved on to crafting complicated wild animals, such as sloths, giraffes, and, yup, sharks. To give this predator its sharp-looking teeth, Robbins sculpted…