Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2021 i National Geographic Kids

GREEN FUR? GUESS I’M JUST LUCKY! Sardinia, Italy The other puppies might’ve been green with envy when they saw their brother’s fur. That’s because Pistachio the sheepdog was born minty green. His four brothers were plain white, so sheep farmer Cristian Mallocci at first thought his mom might’ve rubbed him in the grass. “I joked that she’d given birth to an alien dog,” he says. But the pup’s odd color isn’t out of this world. Veterinarian Travis McDermott says that before they’re born, puppies can sometimes expel meconium—their first poop—when they’re inside their mother’s womb. That can stain their fur. And since each pup is developing in its own sac, the dye doesn’t affect the others. “It’s harmless, and it goes away in about two weeks,” McDermott says. Mallocci’s friends…

In the year A.D. 330, the capital of the Roman Empire was moved from Rome (in what is now Italy) to Turkey. The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters. Only about 5 percent of Turkey is in Europe; the rest is in Asia. Tulips originated in this country. Until 1934, most Turkish people didn’t have last names. Seemingly snowy cliffs loom over a valley in Denizli Province, Turkey, a country that straddles Europe and Asia. Embedded in the frozen-looking bluffs are tiers of small, turquoise-blue pools—it’s almost as if parts of the formation are melting. Despite its appearance, the site is far from frigid. In fact, water here can sometimes reach triple digits. And those aren’t icy cliffs—they’re limestone rock formations. Known as Pamukkale (PAHmoo-KAH-leh) in the Turkish language, or Cotton…

Little Penguin LIVES IN: Coasts of New Zealand and southern Australia SCREEN NAME: FairyBird FRIENDS AUSTRALIAN SEA LION BeachPup KING’S SKINK TopLizard GIANT AUSTRALIAN CUTTLEFISH CuddleFish 5:30 a.m. FairyBird See ya later, chick! I’m off to catch sardines, but your dad will take good care of you while I’m gone. CUTEST CHICK! I think that chick’s old enough to hang out without a babysitter. #BirdBreakfast TopLizard Wow, baby penguins are needy. I just swim away after I lay my eggs. #ByeByeBabies CuddleFish I’m actually on babysitting duty today, keeping track of all my friends’ pups. #INeedANap BeachPup 6 a.m. FairyBird OK, penguin pals, join the #PenguinParade to stay safe on our walk to the sea. Perfect, I’ll meet y’all there. BeachPup Uh, @BeachPup, you’re getting in? (Note to self: disappear.)#ColorChange…

WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T DANCE IF YOU HAVE TWO LEFT FEET? DANCING DOGS What’s got 32 legs, a lot of hair, and some serious moves? A conga line of eight dogs! Alexa Lauenburger holds the record for the most dogs in a conga line after teaching eight of her four-legged friends—Sally (at front), Jennifer, Katy, Emma, Nala, Sabrina, Maya, and Specki—to do the trick. Somehow, we don’t think cats would be as easy to train. EGG-CELLENT EATER Think she saved room for dessert? Leah Shutkever holds the record for the fastest time to eat three pickled eggs, finishing them all in 7.8 seconds, or about three seconds per egg. Shutkever’s not a picky eater—she also holds the records for the fastest time to eat a burrito and the fastest time…

Like adult humans, orangutans sleep about eight hours at night… and they love a comfy bed. Orangutans build a new nest each night in trees by weaving branches, twigs, and leaves together in the shape of a huge bowl. Sleepover, anyone? Plant-eating giraffes are prey animals, and they’re extra vulnerable to lions while asleep. So giraffes usually snooze standing up. But sometimes for very short periods of time—just about five minutes—they lie on the ground with their heads on their rumps. You try relaxing with hungry lions nearby! To get their rest without drowning, dolphins only allow half of their brains to sleep at one time. (That way they’re awake enough to remember to take a breath!) While resting, dolphins float up near the surface, and they sleep with one…

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. What do YOU think this lion is thinking? FROM THE NOVEMBER 2020 ISSUE I told him my best penguin jokes, but I don’t think they’re gonna fly. Calvin D., 10 Ashburn, Virginia Stop giving me the cold shoulder. Katy H., 10 Bedford, New Hampshire Who made you emperor? Ethan M., 10 New York, New York Chill out! Marlow T., 12 Baltimore, Maryland Do I need a breath mint? Mathias G.,…

HOME IS WHERE THE SHELL IS Next time you see a shell on the beach, leave it there — it could be an animal’s home! Mu ko Lanta Marine National Park, Thailand At first, hermit crabs thought this beach was claw-some. Tens of thousands of land hermit crabs swarmed the sand after tourists disappeared during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. But soon the crabs were in trouble. “Hermit crabs can’t create their own shells,” zoologist Niki Khan says. “So they use leftover shells from sea snails.” But with so many hermit crabs skittering on the beach, sea-snail shells became scarce. Plus, visitors had taken shells from the beach as souvenirs. So some hermit crabs were using plastic and other trash to protect themselves. That’s when park rangers and local residents came…

A brown bear claw can be as long as a human finger. Grizzly bears are a type of brown bear, but the brown bears at Katmai are not grizzlies. Brown bears live about 25 years. A brown bear named Walker stands patiently on a rock at the top of Brooks Falls in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve in July. He and about 10 other bears are waiting for sockeye salmon to leap up and over the six-foot-high rocky falls on their way to breeding grounds upstream—and hopefully right into their hungry mouths. As a fish shoots out of the water, the thousandpound bear snatches it in his jaws—score! Just below the falls in Brooks River, a bear named 747 stands neck-deep in the choppy waters called the jacuzzi. He…

You’d never try to pay for sneakers with a handful of bat droppings. But that’s what some ancient civilizations once used as a form of money. We usually think of money as bills and coins, but anything people agree is valuable enough to trade for goods or services can be considered as cash. That’s why bat droppings, silk, bottle caps, and other items have been used throughout history to pay for stuff. Check out this timeline to discover a wealth of facts about money. 1 ca 9000-6000 B.C. In early history, humans bartered, or traded items or services, without using a system of money that people agreed on. For example, ancient Egyptians swapped linen for ivory, or grain for cedar wood. The first and oldest form of money was cattle,…

Animals often blend in with their environment to hide. Find each animal listed below in the pictures, then write the letter of the correct photo next to each animal’s name. 1. common potoo (a type of bird) ______ 2. green huntsman spider ______ 3. Peringuey’s adder ______ 4. lappet moth ______ 5. leaf-tailed gecko ______ 6. frogfish ______ “Find the Hidden Animals” 1. F, 2. D, 3. B, 4. E, 5. A, 6. C.…