National Geographic Kids September 2023

Temperatures on Mercury can drop more than 1000°F in a day. A fish called the SARCASTIC FRINGEHEAD battles over turf by wrestling fellow fringeheads with its mouth. One type of OWL in Australia BARKS like a DOG. MOUNTAIN LIONS have extra-large TASTE BUDS on their TONGUES that help scrape meat from BONES. Food travels through your esophagus at a speed of about 1 inch per second. The world’s loudest bicycle horn is louder than an ambulance siren. CHECK OUT THE BOOK!…

To make a great escape! When an octopus is scared, angry, or surprised, it releases ink that’s stored in a sac near its gut. The ink is mixed with water and mucus, which squirts out as a murky, black cloud that lingers long enough for the octopus to flee. And it’s more than just a sneaky trick: The ink contains a chemical that can scramble the predator’s sense of taste and smell—and even temporarily blind the attacker. An octopus has one more trick up its arm. The thick mucus helps the black cloud hold a shape that can look like a shadowy octopus. This confuses predators—they can’t figure out where the real animal is. Octopus, out! CHECK OUT THE BOOK!…

PRICEY PIG PAINTING Now that’s some pig. Pigcasso holds the record for the most expensive painting by an animal, with one of her pieces selling for $26,898. (Some of the proceeds are donated to charity.) The rescued animal started painting after she picked up a stray paintbrush with her mouth and then swabbed a canvas. Now the South African artist has more than 400 paintings. She even dips her nose in beetroot ink to “sign” her work with her snout. FANCY FRIES Hope you’re saving your allowance! The most expensive french fries sell for $200 at a New York City restaurant. Fried three times in fancy fat, the crispy spuds are topped with shaved black summer truffles (a rare kind of mushroom) and 23-karat edible gold. Pass the ketchup. WEDDING ON WHEELS This wedding chapel…

1 Woodpecker skulls have air pockets that protect their brains as the birds hammer into trees. 2 The barreleye fish has a head so clear you can see its brain. 3 The fleshy parts in your brain are called gyri; the wrinkles in between are called sulci. 4 Scientists are creating new medicines from substances in locust and cockroach brains. 5 Paleontologists found a chunk of fossilized brain in the skull of a 133-million-year-old dinosaur. 6 The human brain has a texture kind of like Jell-O.…

Denver, Colorado Now this is out of left field: Two red foxes played in the Colorado Rockies’ baseball stadium for a few chilly days last December. “They were running around, chasing each other and playing—sometimes both of them were up on their back legs,” says team photographer Kyle Cooper, who snapped pics of the foxes where he usually photographs players. “At one point, they even jumped into the stands!” Wildlife biologist Katie Doyle says red foxes are adaptable animals that can thrive in human environments. In fact, these foxes were likely snacking on small mammals like mice that make a home in the stadium. “Humans really create this perfect environment for these types of animals,” she says. Red foxes usually live alone until mating season, so this pair was likely…

Stung Treng, Cambodia No ray! Fishers hauled a 13-foot-long, 400-pound giant freshwater stingray out of the Mekong River’s murky depths. The female ray was captured accidentally after she swallowed a smaller fish on a baited hook. This 2,700-mile-long river has pools that can be 260 feet deep, making it home to some of Earth’s largest and rarest fish species—including this endangered ray. So fishers immediately contacted scientists working on a project called Wonders of the Mekong. The researchers kept the animal wet while they measured and weighed it on a tarp. (And as enormous as the ray was, the fishers say they’ve caught rays almost twice her size.) After collecting the data, scientists and fishers released the ray back to the river unharmed. Keep swimming, stingray!…