National Geographic Kids USA - August 2023
National Geographic Kids USA - August 2023
National Geographic Kids USA - August 2023
ECIAL IS
SP SU
E!
MORE THAN
50
Fu
n
Facts!
FACT #1
Leopard cats
have
webbed
WHAT?! feet!
Flow-
charts
Checklist
Challenges
True
or
False
Multiple
Choice
Questions
ar n in g ne w things
Have fun le u t the world, too!
... and a bo
about yourself
Ocean
Ontario L3P 9Z9. COVER: ERNIE JANES / NPL / MINDEN
PICTURES (LEOPARD CAT); WOUTER PATTYN /
The submission of photographs and other material to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
BUITEN BEELD / MINDEN PICTURES (BROWN
KIDS is done at the risk of the sender; NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS cannot BEAR); © DANIEL BADIA / CATERS NEWS
accept liability for loss or damage. Dive into some AGENCY (SHARK). PAGE 3: DONGSHAN CHEN /
ALAMY (ELEPHANT); MARK CARWARDINE /
splashy sea NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (AMAZON RIVER
DOLPHIN); JGI / JAMIE GRILL / GETTY IMAGES
creature facts. (ICE- CREAM CONE); ANTHONY-MASTERSON /
SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS! GETTY IMAGES (WATERMELON); FRACTAL7 /
SHUTTERSTOCK (FIREFALL); SCIENCE PHOTO
CALL TOLL FREE 1–800–647–5463 LIBRARY / EYE OF SCIENCE (TARDIGRADE)
AN
ATLANTIC
PUFFIN
CAN HOLD
AS MANY AS
A DOZEN
SMALL FISH
IN ITS BILL
AT ONE
TIME. A GROUP OF
GIRAFFES
IS CALLED
A TOWER.
A HEXAGON-SHAPED HURRICANE
The first
MOST SHARKS WOULD SINK baseball caps
IN FRESH WATER. were made from straw.
GIANT
No wave is too high for
this surfer. Maya Gabeira of
Brazil holds the record for
the largest wave surfed by
a woman. Gabeira caught
the 73-foot-6-inch wave
WAVE
at Praia do Norte, a beach
in Portugal famous for
its massive waves.(That’s
about the same height as
a seven-story building!)
Surf’s up—way up.
WASHING
MACHINE
TOSS
Maybe this guy just really hates
doing laundry. Johan Espenkrona
of Sweden set the record for the
farthest washing-machine throw
GABEIRA CATCHES after he tossed the nearly hundred-
A 68-FOOT WAVE
AT A BEACH IN pound appliance almost 15 feet.
PORTUGAL IN 2018. Espenkrona outflung Kelvin de
Ruiter, the record holder for the
fastest time to flip a car five times.
We’re hoping for a dryer toss next.
OCTAVIO PASSOS / GETTY IMAGES (WAVE); GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS, LTD. (ESPENKRONA,
MACHO). INFORMATION PROVIDED BY © 2023 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED. AUGUST 2023 • NAT GEO KIDS 5
Moment of
Fan
adult bears and cubs, like
this one in Finland, often
lives in its mother’s pouch for its first
six months. Once out, the joey spends
Quick
Cub stand on their hind legs another few months keeping close to Cuddle
to get a better view. Mom for protection, milk, and snuggles.
(Sometimes of you!)
3
One type of
snake has a
tail that looks
like a spider to
4 lure prey
Zebras like birds.
can aim the
tips of their
tails to swat
flies.
5 7
To attract
A giraffe’s
mates, the
superb lyrebird
6 tail can grow up
fans its tail over its head Lions sometimes to 8 feet—
like an umbrella, display friendliness as long as a
then dances by draping their tails surfboard!
and chirps. over each other.
IGNACIO YUFERA / BIOSPHOTO / MINDEN PICTURES AUGUST 2023 • NAT GEO KIDS 7
BY SARAH WASSNER FLYNN AND
BRITTANY MOYA DEL PINO
1 OPEN WIDE!
Although it could
swallow you whole
with its five-foot-wide
mouth, the whale
shark would never do
that. These gentle
giants grow as big as
a school bus but feed
on plankton and tiny
fish—about three to
six pounds an hour.
MEGAFISH
CHECK OUT SOME OF THE MOST SIZABLE SWIMMERS
LURKING IN OUR OCEANS, RIVERS, AND LAKES.
Paddlefish lived
more than 300
million years ago,
before dinosaurs
roamed the
Earth.
3 4
SOAK UP THE SUNFISH RIVER
GIANTS
Found worldwide in
temperate and tropical As one of Earth’s biggest
oceans, mola can grow freshwater fish, the
up to 14 feet tall, 10 feet Mekong giant catfish tops
long, and nearly 5,000 out at more than 10 feet
pounds. That’s as heavy long and 650 pounds. Once
as a minivan! Because
5
plentiful, these swimmers
they bask near the are now facing extinction
ocean’s surface, these because of dams and over-
round, bony beasts are
also known as sunfish.
fishing in the Southeast READY FOR
Asian river where they live. BATTLE
The beluga sturgeon,
a saltwater-dwelling
fish, lives for more
6
than 100 years and
protects itself with
thick armored plates.
TREACHEROUS TAIL Adults can grow to
be as long and as
In the sandy, coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific heavy as a 25-foot
oceans, stingrays up to 10 feet long hunt for fish and camper trailer.
invertebrates. They usually leave humans alone, but
watch out! A cowtail stingray can bend its long tail up
over its back and cause serious damage with its knife-
like venomous spine. 8 BIG BITE
A BOY POSES WITH
THESE AFRICAN
WILD DONKEYS
“WORK” BY
EATING AND
POOPING! ZOOKEEPERS
SCOOP THE
VALUABLE
DROPPINGS.
A CHEETAH
NAMED
ELTON SITS
UNDER
A SHADE
WHILE HE
WAITS TO
TRAVEL TO
INDIA.
COMEBACK CRITTER:
Cheetahs
Kuno National Park, India
On an 11-hour airplane flight
from the African country of
Dreaming
Namibia, eight young cheetahs
SLEEPING
SPIDER relax in their crates, sometimes
making high-pitched chirps. “It’s
like they’re saying, ‘Hi, where are
Spiders
you?’ to each other,” cheetah expert
Laurie Marker says. She’s helping
relocate these animals to Kuno
National Park in India, a country
where wild cheetahs haven’t been
Trier, Germany seen in 70 years.
Spiders don’t have eyelids, so they can’t close their eyes. But a new study reveals Cheetahs roamed throughout
that arachnids do enter a sleeplike state that might even include dreams. this country for thousands of years.
Behavioral ecologist Daniela Rößler (pronounced RUS-lur) studied fingernail- But when the British began ruling
size jumping spiders while they dangled from a strand of silk at night. Most of the India in 1858, they hunted cheetahs
time, the snoozing spiders stayed still with their legs curled in. But about every for sport until the species was de-
20 minutes, for nearly 80 seconds, their eyes moved around quickly and their clared extinct in the country nearly
bodies made jerky movements. That’s similar to how humans (and some pets!) a hundred years later.
move when they’re dreaming in deep sleep. “The way they twitched just made me Conservationists hope that these
think of dogs and cats dreaming,” Rößler says. eight cheetahs—plus more in the
Before the study, this type of sleep had been observed only in octopuses and future—will breed and create a
animals with backbones, like reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals (including humans). stable population in India. They also
And like people’s shut-eye stories, not all spider dreams are pleasant. expect that the cheetahs will bring
“They’ll be peacefully dangling, legs curled in neatly,” she says, when suddenly, tourist dollars to the park, which
“all the legs get extended at the same time, like aah!” We wonder what kind of will help support the program.
nightmares a spider might have! —Elizabeth Anne Brown Even better:
The work might
also boost the
endangered cats’
SPIDERS numbers overall,
Trier, which might help
Germany keep them from
going extinct.
(Right now, only
about 7,000 ELTON EXPLORES
ZOO ANIMALS cheetahs remain AN ENCLOSURE
Colden Common, in the wild.) We say: Three IN INDIA BEFORE
HE’S RELEASED.
England cheers for cheetahs!
—Cheryl Maguire
CHEETAHS
Kuno National
Check out more stories, tips, and
crafts to help the planet! SAVE
EART
THE
ME SNAK
T
LIKE A DOG. N .
ELV I
ES
ES
TWIS MS
T THE
LEATHERBACK
SEA TURTLES
CAN SWIM IN A OLD TERMITES WILL
STRAIGHT LINE EXPLODE TO PROTECT THEIR
NESTS.
FOR THOUSANDS
OF miles.
12 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2023
AN
RATS can ELEPHANT
LEARNED TO
IMITATE THE WORDS
"HELLO"
AND
their "SIT DOWN"
EYES out of their
IN KOREAN.
CHINESE
SOFT-SHELLED
SOCKETS.
VAMPIRE URINATE THROUGH THEIR MOUTHS.
SQUID
EMIT FLASHES OF
LIGHT TO CONFUSE
PREDATORS.
MARTIN GARNHAM / DREAMSTIME (CAT); JUERGEN FREUND / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (LEATHERBACK SEA
TURTLE); DON JOHNSTON / GETTY IMAGES (SPIDER); GEORGETTE DOUWMA / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY
13
(TERMITES); VITER8 / DREAMSTIME (RAT); STEVE DOWNER / ARDEA (VAMPIRE SQUID); DONGSHAN
CHEN / ALAMY (ELEPHANT); KAMPEE PATISENA / DREAMSTIME (CHINESE SOFT-SHELLED TURTLE) AUGUST 2023 • NAT GEO KIDS
Taste
Buds
Your brain
can identify
er in .0015 second,
fast than th
eb
link of an eye.
14 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2023 JGI / JAMIE GRILL / GETTY IMAGES
TASTY SECRETS REVEALED!
The little bumps all over your tongue are covered
with taste buds—special cells that sense flavor. And
they’re not just on your tongue: They cover the roof
of your mouth and the back of your throat. Some are
even inside your nose!
These taste buds can sense five basic tastes:
sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory. The flavor of food
comes from a combination of these tastes, plus the
aromas that you smell while you’re eating.(That’s why
food tastes less flavorful when you have a stuffy nose.)
Your taste buds are what make food yummy. But
they also act as a warning system for your body. If your
taste buds sense a gross or toxic flavor, they can let
your brain know in just .0015 second. That way, you can
spit out the bad food and stay safe. Thanks, taste buds!
CHECK
OUT
THE
BOOK!
THE NEAR
BELIZE IS AN
CAVE
UNDERWATER
GREAT SINKHOLE
LOOK LIKE A STARRY SKY.
BLUE
IN A NEW ZEALAND
GLOWWORMS
feet
HOLE DEEP.
THOUSANDS OF
A CALIFORNIA
YOU CAN RIDE COUPLE ONCE FOUND
A FERRIS
WHEEL
UNDERGROUND
$10,000
IN ROMANIA. WORTH OF GOLD IN
THEIR BACKYARD.
16 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2023
SAMPLES.
LIVE IN UNDERGROUND
DUGOUTS IN COOBER PEDY, AUSTRALIA.
A MOUNTAIN VAULT IN NORWAY STORES
SEED A CHAPEL
WAS BUILT
443 feet
POLISH
SALT MINE.
OVER 2,000
YEARS AGO,
PEOPLE IN CAPPADOCIA, TURKEY,
LIVED INSIDE TOWERS OF ROCK.
© SOLVIN ZANKL / VISUALS UNLIMITED / CORBIS AUGUST 2023 • NAT GEO KIDS 17
THE HIMBA PEOPLE IN NAMIBIA, AFRICA,
DO NOT HAVE
A WORD
FOR THE
Cool COLOR
Colors
THE sky ON
Venus IS
orange-red.
WATERMELONS
CAN BE YELLOW
INSIDE. “NATIONAL SCHOOL BUS
GLOSSY YELLOW”
SOME PEOPLE SEE ONLY IN IS THE ACTUAL NAME OF
THE PAINT COLOR USED ON
WHITE ,
18
GRAY.
AND
NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2023
AMAZON
RIVER
DOLPHINS
Chicken
ARE
SOMETIMES
eggshave
can
PINK.
red yolks.
NO
COUNTRY
HAS A FLAG
THAT'S MOSTLY PINK.
MOOD
RINGS
CHANGE COLOR
because of TEMPERATURE,
not
MOOD.
WATCH WEIRD BUT TRUE VIDEOS!
natgeokids.com/wbt
ON
FIRE
for two weeks
every year.
CLICKING
ARE
SOUNDS
FOR ITS
AROUND
CONSONANTS.
SINCE LANGUAGES
HAVE BECOME
THE EXTINCT IN THE
1500s, UNITED STATES.
22 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2023
ABOUT 15
PERCENT
OF THE WORLD’S
POPULATION A CHINESE
SPEAKS LANGUAGE.
2,300
AT LEAST OF THE WORLD’S
LANGUAGES
ARE
SPOKEN
12 LANGUAGES
IN
TO EXPRESS CONFUSION.
Amazing
Ocean
SCALES
Scale Worm
Wave hello to the Antarctic scale worm! This marine worm is
named after the protective scales covering its back. And those
golden bristles on the sides of its body? Scientists think they help
the worm move along the ocean floor and swim. This eight-inch-
long worm also has a jaw full of spiky teeth. That means it could be
a predator or scavenger.
SOLVIN ZANKL / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (SCALE WORM); STEFAN CHRISTMANN / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (MINKE
Elephant Seal
Elephant seals can grow up to 20 feet
long and weigh 4.4 tons—that’s as
heavy as an Asian elephant! And it’s not
just their size that makes them elephant-
like. These animals are named for the
male elephant seal’s nose, which looks
a bit like a trunk. They use these big
snouts to make loud and threatening
noises that ward off other males.
Tardigrade
These microscopic animals are tiny but tough. They can
thrive in the most extreme environments, both below-
zero temperatures and boiling water. Plus, they can
live for 30 years without food! Most often found living
in water on lichens and mosses, they’re sometimes
called “water bears” and “moss piglets.”
Comb Jelly
These jellyfish-like creatures are named for the
rows of comb-shaped structures that pulse to
help them move through the water. The struc-
tures, called cilia, run up and down the comb jelly’s
body. The cilia are too small to see here, but
check out those rainbows of color: That’s where
light is traveling through the tiny combs. Talk
about a light show!
fa
ll
s
to
Earth
each day.
THE MILKY WAY
APPEARS OVER
THE HIMALAYAN
MOUNTAINS IN
NEPAL.
STOCKTREK IMAGES / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION AUGUST 2023 • NAT GEO KIDS 27
STUFF
GAMES,
LAUGHS,
AND LOTS
TO DO!
PLAY!
SURF’S UP!
Something totally gnarly is happening at the
Supreme Surfing Tournament in South Africa,
where ocean animals show off their natural
bodysurfing talents. Find 20 things wrong at
this kooky competition. ANSWERS ON PAGE 32
28 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2023 JAMES YAMASAKI (ART); RUTH A. MUSGRAVE (CONCEPT)
AUGUST 2023 • NAT GEO KIDS 29
Animal
BLOOPERS
YOU
Animals make ARE ONE
mistakes, too! FUNNY
BUNNY!
BY ALLYSON SHAW
European rabbits
RANGE Native to Europe and
northwest Africa; today they’re
found on every continent
except Antarctica
SLIPUP SPOT 0kunoshima, Japan
PHOTO FAIL Young rabbits play
together by nipping at each other
and then hopping backward. These
two jumped way back.
ROTFL!
Galápagos tortoise
RANGE Galápagos Islands,
Ecuador
HEY‚ SLIPUP SPOT Isabela Island
WHO’S PHOTO FAIL This tortoise’s
STEPPING long neck can stretch upward to
ON MY
NECK? grab tasty leaves … as long as it
doesn’t get all twisted up!
I
DIDN’T
SAY I
WANTED A
WATERBED!
Bearded seal
RANGE Arctic Ocean
SLIPUP SPOT Near Spitsbergen,
Norway
PHOTO FAIL Bearded seals often
rest on stable ice floes before they
feed, but it looks like this frozen raft
is getting a little off-balance.
ESUHOS
S LY B C C I E
LFUOESWSNR
E S PA
MDOSNEOI
GA RC H I N M N A B D
GET IN LINE
AC S R
I AT N P T S E
These photographs show close-up
A U S M T D I AT S E S
in each picture. ANSWERS ON PAGE 32
31
Unscramble the letters to identify what’s
BACK
TALK
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
wood duck is
thinking?
15
Whatcha
THE OCE
%
AN
A SW I
18
POOL
MMIN
%
G
spot
7%
A RIVER
watery
A WATER PARK
52%
A LAKE
8%
Check out how Nat Geo Kids
33
1 2
3 4 5
10
11 12
13
Thrlling
stories of
shark
encounters
Other
ocean
animals
Amazing,
in-your-face
photos
AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD
SharkFest is swimming onto televisions this July!
Discover more at natgeokids.com.
© 2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC