Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2021 i National Geographic Kids

Many astronauts crave TABASCO SAUCE in space. The atlas moth scares predators by flapping its wings, which look like cobra heads. CAN YOU DIG IT? An AARDVARK can dig faster than several people with shovels. YOUR SKIN SHEDS AND REGROWS ABOUT ONCE A MONTH. THE AVERAGE STRAWBERRY HAS 200 SEEDS. 56 million years ago, HORSES were the size of HOUSE CATS. Some artists paint portraits on baked tortillas. SPIDER SILK has been used to make VIOLIN STRINGS.…

1 According to legend, wild horses roaming a beach shared by Maryland and Virginia descend from survivors of a 17th-century shipwreck. 2 At Hot Water Beach in New Zealand, underground volcanic water creates natural hot springs during low tide. 3 Tourists at a Hawaiian beach discovered rock carvings more than 400 years old. 4 A beach in California is made up of multicolored pieces of sea glass that formed over the past 100 years from a nearby trash site. 5 A man once surfed an 80-foot-tall wave—that’s about as high as an 8-story building. 6 People swim at the same speed in both water and syrup.…

A bird hops and flutters along the limb of a tree, getting higher and higher. A margay, a small wild cat about the size of a house cat, is only a few feet behind. Suddenly the bird flits to a different limb, and the margay leaps after it. Oops! It’s too far to jump, and the margay starts to fall. It’s a long way down. But it catches hold of a branch with one foot, quickly rights itself, and gets back to the chase. When the bird flies away, the little cat turns and goes down the tree headfirst to hunt for something else. Unlike some other wild cat species, margay kittens are born with their spots. BUILT TO CLIMB Margays live in rainforests from Mexico to northern Argentina and…

A baby hippopotamus sat alone on the banks of the Zambezi River in Zambia, a country in Africa. His mother was nowhere in sight. Although a big adult hippo has nothing to fear from predators, an unguarded baby could easily turn into a meal for hungry crocodiles or hyenas lurking nearby. The morning sun rose, parching the dehydrated two-week-old. With every passing minute he lost more strength. Cruising the river in a boat, Ian Stevenson spotted the distressed animal. “I’d never seen a hippo calf on its own before, since hippo mothers rarely leave their babies,” the conservationist says. He assumed that by the time he circled back, the mom would have appeared. But the hippo was still alone when he rounded the bend hours later. It’s likely that the…

A The kingfisher is a rare bird. FALSE: European kingfishers live near ponds, streams, rivers, and lakes throughout much of the world. B Kingfishers eat fish. TRUE: They also eat tadpoles and insect larvae. C This bird looks like it has hiccups when it’s hunting. TRUE: As it waits and watches for swimming prey, it often bobs its head up and down. D Watching a kingfisher eat isn’t pleasant. TRUE: It whacks the fish’s head onto a hard surface and then swallows it whole. E A kingfisher will sink if it gets drenched. FALSE: The bird dives into the water to catch its prey. Once its meal is in its beak, the kingfisher pops to the surface and flies to a dry perch to eat. © IMAGEBROKER / SUPERSTOCK…

HEIGHT 456 FEET THAT’S AS TALL AS A 45-STORY BUILDING! RACING ROLLER COASTER Get ready for a supercharged ride! Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey is not only the world’s tallest roller coaster—it’s the world’s second fastest, too! Hang on tight and check out these heart-pumping facts about the ride. DROP 418 FEET PEAK 129-FOOT-TALL CAMEL HUMP SPEED 128 MILES AN HOUR HAVE A NEED FOR SPEED? RIDERS REACH TOP SPEED IN JUST 3.5 SECONDS! RIDE DURATION 50.6 SECONDS CLIMB ANGLE 90° LENGTH 3,118 FEET…

MONKEY BUSINESS THE SCIENTIST: Roberto Zariquiey COOL JOB: Linguist THE LOCATION: Ucayali, Peru “I had spent a few weeks in a remote village in the Amazon rainforest in Peru taping hours of conversations with native speakers. Using a brand-new recording device, I was going to study and preserve the indigenous (also called native) languages of these people. “But on the last day, a Nancy Ma’s night monkey jumped up on the table with my computer … and knocked it onto the floor! When I turned the machine back on, I saw that all of the recordings were gone—and we hadn’t made backups. We usually make two copies of the files and store them on separate computers, just in case. But we hadn’t learned how to make backups with the new…

Spectacled Bear LIVES IN: Andes Mountains of South America SCREEN NAME: PeakBear FRIENDS VICUÑA LongNeck ANDEAN CONDOR EasyGlider CULPEO FoxRocks START 9 a.m. PeakBear Anybody else notice the airplane above? Hey, I might be the largest bird in the sky, but I’m not that big. EasyGlider PeakBear Whoops! Well, I never said my spec-shaped eye markings were actually glasses. What’re you doing up there, anyway? Trying to scope out some breakfast. Rotting meat, anyone? EasyGlider I’ll bite! Send an alert if you find any leftover guanacos … or vicuña (but don’t tell @LongNeck). FoxRocks I’ll be fine—you can’t catch me when I’m running 30 miles an hour. #EatMyDirt LongNeck I THINK I NEED A WIDER BRANCH. 3 p.m. PeakBear I can’t find any bromeliads! They’re my fave flower snack. Never…

A The Coquerel’s sifaka TRUE: In one night, a coyote can steal 20 goose eggs and hide them to eat later. Coyotes also eat mice, frogs, lizards, snakes, berries, and many other things. B Unlike wolves, coyotes don’t howl. FALSE: Howling is one way that coyotes communicate their territorial boundaries It can only eat abou C A coyote is bigger than a golden retriever. FALSE: Coyotes weigh between 15 and 44 pounds. An average golden retriever is taller and weighs from 55 to 75 pounds. D If you live in a city, your neighbors may include coyotes. TRUE: Coyotes live quite comfortably in big cities like Chicago, Illinois, or Los Angeles, California, though people rarely see them. E Its paw print could fit on this card. TRUE: Tracks average 2.5…

Some ATMS in ASIA and EUROPE scan VEIN PATTERNS in your finger to ID your account. Made of aluminum, Japan’s 1-yen coin is so light that it can float on water. ”WAFFLE COINS” are messed-up coins that the U.S. Mint CANCELS by imprinting a WAFFLE PATTERN onto their surface. STACKS OF MONEY in movies often have one FAKE BILL on top, one on the bottom, and BLANK SHEETS of paper in between. NIGERIA’S 100-naira bill has images of COWRIE SHELLS and metal bracelets, some of the country’s OLDEST forms of currency. Archaeologists have dug up 4th-century clay molds used by Roman coin counterfeiters. U.S. “PAPER” CURRENCY isn’t made out of paper. It’s 75 PERCENT COTTON and 25 PERCENT LINEN. In 1644, Sweden issued a plate-size coin that weighed 44 pounds.…

IF I WERE PRESIDENT? FREE CHEW TOYS FOR EVERYONE! Presidential Pups Washington, D.C. On his sixth day serving as president, Joe Biden was signing an important executive order in the Oval Office (the president’s official office in the White House). As he stood up from his desk, reporters heard two things: Biden saying, “Thank you,” and dogs barking nearby! Champ and Major the German shepherds moved into the White House with the president and First Lady Jill Biden in January. But this isn’t Champ’s first time living as a power pooch: Adopted from a breeder as a puppy, he lived with the couple while Biden served as President Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. But it’s all brand-new for two-year-old Major. In 2018, the Bidens adopted him from an animal…

PLAY! ANIMAL FUN HOUSE These animal photos have been given the fun house mirror treatment. Look at each photo, then use the clues to rearrange the letters and identify all nine animals. 1 CLUE MOLNIAFG This bird from South America is what it eats—at least as far as its pink color goes. 2 CLUE ANEBIRIS RITGE For this Asian animal, stripes are more than a fashion statement. It’s really dressed to blend in while it’s hunting to keep it out of sight. 3 CLUE ELBU NGTA This coral reef fish’s name rhymes with the friendly “You rang?” But it protects itself with razor-sharp spines as it swims in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. 4 CLUE AULN HMTO This North American flier is big and beautiful and comes out at night—just…

A Surprisingly, bamboo lemurs do not like bamboo. FALSE: New bamboo shoots and sprouts are its favorite food. It also eats the leaves and other parts of the plant. B A bamboo lemur runs like a cat and swims like a dog. TRUE: But gray bamboo lemurs usually leap from tree to tree to travel through Madagascar’s rainforests. C They make long-distance calls. TRUE: They have different calls to communicate over short and long distances. They also have special calls warning whether a predator is approaching from the air or the ground. D Their combs have real teeth. TRUE: Lemurs have special teeth on their lower jaws that they use to groom their fur. E A lemur “plays” freeze tag. TRUE: When startled by a predator, it drops to the…