Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2022-23 i National Geographic Kids

CHECK OUT THIS BOOK! THE SOUND OF AN ICEBERG BREAKING IS LOUDER THAN 214 OIL TANKER ENGINES. SCOOBY-DOO was originally named TOO MUCH. MISTLETOE HAS NO SCENT. SOME PIGS HAVE CURLY HAIR. AN EMPEROR PENGUIN HAS ABOUT 100 FEATHERS ON EVERY SQUARE INCH OF ITS BODY. THE ASIAN WEAVER ANT CAN HOLD OBJECTS 100 TIMES ITS WEIGHT—WHILE HANGING UPSIDE DOWN! You could buy cola-flavored Cheetos in Japan. People THROW AWAY enough RIBBON each year to tie a bow around the entire EARTH. About half of the WORLD’S POPULATION lives in areas where SNOW NEVER FALLS.…

Cold Feet For its first 50 days of life, a newly hatched emperor penguin chick hangs out on a parent’s feet to stay safe from freezing ice. Best snowshoes ever? Frog-cicle Here’s one way to survive frigid temperatures in the Arctic: Freeze yourself solid. For up to eight months, wood frogs don’t breathe, have a heartbeat, or move a muscle. In spring, the hoppers thaw from the inside out. Snow Way Out A little rodent can’t hide from a red fox—not even under three feet of snow. The hunter listens for rustling, then … kapow! The fox leaps up and dives straight into the snow, pinning a meal with its paws. Ice Games A thick layer of fat and a woolly fur coat keep giant pandas comfortable in the chilly…

The sun beats down on the sand of an arena in ancient Rome. Two gladiators squint up at the crowd that has gathered to watch them fight. They turn toward each other, prepared to battle to the death. Or did they? For nearly 700 years—from around 300 B.C. to about A.D. 400—ancient Romans flocked to gladiator games to watch all-day spectacles of fighters in one-on-one or small-group combat. But what you’ve seen on TV and in the movies might not be the real story. Read about these five gladiator myths that have been thrown out of the arena. MYTH All gladiators were men. Most gladiators were men, but some of the Roman Empire’s biggest games featured female fighters, called gladiatrix. These women likely fought with the same weapons and armor…

MAJOR BLING Grab your sunglasses: This ring has some serious sparkle. It holds the record for the most diamonds on a ring, with 24,679 sparklers. Designed to look like a pink oyster mushroom, the ring was created by pouring liquid gold into a mold to form 41 mushroom petals. Then each petal was encrusted with diamonds. Wearing the ring might get a little tiring—it weighs almost one pound! BIG-MOUTH DOG! Finley the golden retriever doesn’t just fetch his tennis balls. He crams six of them into his mouth, the most on record for a dog. Owner Cheri Molloy says that as a puppy, Finley would chase tennis balls and then refuse to give them back. But now she simply places the balls on the ground, and Finley scoops them all into…

CHECK OUT THE BOOK! 1 NORTHERN LIGHTS The aurora borealis (uh-ROR-uh bor-ee-AL-us)brings vivid green swirls to Jökulsárlón, an icy lagoon in southeast Iceland. When charged particles from the sun collide with oxygen molecules about 60 miles above Earth, they excite the atoms to give off a stunning green glow. 2 STARRY SKY A long exposure taken of the Milky Way over the Black Sea shows off our home galaxy. All the stars we can see from Earth are in the Milky Way, and astronomers estimate that our galaxy has 100 to 400 billion stars in it. 3 SPIRAL STORMS A dramatic thunderstorm cloud called a supercell cloud swirls above a grassy plain. Supercells, which are powerful storm systems, form at less than 6,500 feet in the air during hot, humid weather. Powerful updrafts—rotating…

THE RAINFOREST TREKKER Pedro Peloso is a biologist who studies amphibians and reptiles. He describes taking a leap to discover a new frog species. “I was in a canoe, paddling through the Pau-Rosa National Forest in Brazil at nighttime. I heard a familiar frog call and cruised to the riverbank to find the animal. It was high up in a tree hanging over the river, so I stepped on a tree branch and jumped up—gotcha! “The branch broke when I came down, and I fell into the water up to my neck. But I still had the frog in my hand. When I got a closer look, I realized this was not the species I expected to catch based on the call. Could it be something new? We knew we…

VACATION POSTCARD Wish you were here! Nat Geo Kids readers sent us postcards from their dream vacations. Statement of ownership, management, and monthly circulation of National Geographic Kids OWNER AND PUBLISHER: National Geographic Partners, LLC David E. Miller, Executive Vice President and General Manager, NG Media Rachel Buchholz, Editor in Chief HEADQUARTERS OF PUBLISHER AND PUBLICATION: 1145 Seventeenth Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036 STOCKHOLDERS; BONDHOLDERS; MORTGAGE; OTHER SECURITY HOLDERS: National Geographic Society and The Walt Disney Company Draw your favorite comeback critter. Send us your original drawings: Nat Geo Kids—Comeback Art Zone P.O. Box 98002 Washington, DC 20090-8002 Include your name, address, phone number, date of birth, a title for your drawing, a statement that it is your own work, and the name of your parent or guardian. Your parent…

1 Deep-fried jelly doughnuts called sufganiyot are eaten during Hanukkah to represent an ancient miracle involving long-lasting lamp oil. 2 A harvest festival called Basega honors ancestors of the Mossi people in the African country of Burkina Faso. 3 During Dongzhi, a festival in parts of Asia, families eat sweet dumplings called tangyuan to symbolize togetherness. 4 During a Japanese celebration called Toji, people take baths filled with citrus fruits and eat pumpkin for good luck. 5 Hallacas, a type of tamale eaten in Venezuela on Christmas Eve, can be stuffed with as many as 20 different ingredients. 6 Celebrated by many Black Americans, Kwanzaa gets its name from the phrase “first fruits of the harvest” in Swahili, an African language.…

Wild Holiday Party Brookfield, Illinois Brookfield, Illinois Hudson the polar bear steps into his enclosure at Brookfield Zoo. Something new is inside: an evergreen tree with lots of tasty treats hidden in the branches—a fish-mas tree! “Hudson has to figure out how to use his paws and teeth to get the fish out,” says Tim Sullivan, an animal behavior expert at the zoo. “And then he’ll explore the smell and texture of the tree itself.” Sullivan gave trees like this one—left over from a holiday event—to many animals at the zoo. The idea is that enrichment activities like these keep zoo animals physically and mentally healthy by providing new challenges and experiences. So bison tossed the conifers into the air, and big cats played with trees hanging from bouncy bungee…

1 A leopard can drag prey heavier than itself 50 feet up a tree. 2 Bobcats can pounce 10 feet to catch prey. 3 A tiger knows that another tiger is close by sniffing trees marked with urine. 4 Bobcats twitch their ear tufts to communicate with other bobcats 5 Lion cubs are born spotted to help them camouflage in the grass. 6 Cheetahs sometimes chirp to communicate with each other. 7 Jaguars and tigers enjoy swimming. 8 The snow leopard can wrap its long tail around its body like a scarf. 9 A big cat’s sense of smell is 20 times stronger than a human’s. 10 Clouded leopards are called mint leopards in China and tree tigers in Malaysia. 11 A cheetah cub’s long, fuzzy coat is called a mantle. 12 Clouded leopards can hang upside down from tree branches. 13 A lion pride…

GREAT GRAY OWL A The great gray owl is North American bird. TRUE: It lives in Canada and the northern United States. It also lives in northern Europe and Asia. B You’ll have to speak up so the owl can hear you. FALSE: It can hear a mouse under 18 inches of snow. C Its stylish bow tie tells you it’s a great gray owl. TRUE: The unique white feathers on its neck look like a bow tie or beard. D This delicate bird can grab prey only from beneath powdery snow. FALSE: One was seen plunging through crusty snow thick enough to hold a 175-pound person to retrieve a meal. E Its wings are so short it couldn’t give you much of a hug. FALSE: Its wingspan can be five…