NATGEOKIDS.

COM • AUGUST 2022

COOL
BOOK
GIVEAWAY

CRITTER
CHAT
How
dolphins,
wild dogs,
NEW
MOVIES
and other
animals
‘talk’ in
ROCKS the wild
AND
MINERALS

CUTE
HAMSTERS
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 Check out these CHECK OUT
THE BOOK!
outrageous facts.
BY JULIE BEER AND MICHELLE HARRIS

A SEED

CAN BLOW

ACROSS

THE OCEAN
Some cows make
AND SPROUT best friends with other
cattle in their herd.
ON ANOTHER

CONTINENT.
A NEW
SKYSCRAPER
Swiftlet birds’ goes up
nests are made EVERY
entirely from month in
CHINA.
saliva.
A TOY CAR
dipped in GOLD
and covered in
WALKING JEWELS sold for
MOONDUST
ANIMALS ANIMALS / SUPERSTOCK (COWS); PAUL

USES
HAWTHORNE / STARPIX / SHUTTERSTOCK (CAR)

$60,000.
STICKS TO
ASTRONAUTS’
SPACE SUITS. 200
MUSCLES.

4 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 GUINNESS
WORLD
RECORDS BY KAY BOATNER

SUPER-TALL
SANDCASTLE
You’d need a really big wave to wash away this
beachy build. The world’s tallest sandcastle
stood a staggering 69.5 feet—that’s about as
high as four adult giraffes stacked on top of
each other. Entirely handmade in Denmark,
the castle needed more than 30 sculp-
tors to create it. Wonder how long it
took the builders to get the sand
out of their clothes?

GOAT BABY
BOOM!
There’s no such thing as
too many baby goats.
Angelica the goat holds
the record for largest litter of goats, giving birth
to seven babies, or kids. Births of more than three
or four kids are rare, so experts were surprised
that all seven of Angelica’s babies were born healthy.
You go, mama goat!

ANGELICA I NEED
SPEEDY ICE-CREAM THE GOAT
(CENTER) IS
SURROUNDED
BY HER
SEVEN KIDS.
A NAP.

You better run

TRUCK
fast if you’re trying to catch
this vehicle. The world’s fastest
electric ice-cream truck can
travel up to 80 miles an hour. Owner Paddy McGuinness
converted a gas-powered van to electric and added
monster-truck tires. In the summer, McGuinness serves
ice cream from the truck. Hope he doesn’t spill any
scoops when he speeds up!

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LTD. (SANDCASTLE, GOATS); LEE BRIMBLE / BBC (ICE-CREAM
TRUCK). INFORMATION PROVIDED BY © 2022 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS LIMITED. AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 5
ALL
ABOUT
MONEY BY KRISTIN BAIRD RATTINI

This year, the U.S. Mint

began issuing quarters with
U.S. WOMEN on
Coins created in
one side. The first
two are poet 1616 for what is
MAYA ANGELOU now BERMUDA
and astronaut SALLY RIDE, were nicknamed
the first U.S. woman in space.
“HOGGIES”
because they
A PORTRAIT of pictured HOGS.
George Washington
is on the other side.

In 1917, ROMANIA
issued a banknote
UZBEKISTAN’S that was about the SIZE
of a POSTAGE STAMP.
tiyin coin is worth a
THOUSANDTH
as much as a
PENNY.

© COLIN HAMPDEN WHITE (BANKNOTE DRESS); BNR / WORLD RECORD ACADEMY (ROMANIAN BANKNOTE); JACK GUEZ / AFP /
GETTY IMAGES (GOLD COINS); MAOGG / GETTY IMAGES (CANADIAN BANKNOTES); ALBLEC / GETTY IMAGES (MAPLE SYRUP)
UNITED STATES COIN IMAGES FROM THE UNITED STATES MINT (QUARTERS, ALL); PHOTOMASTER / SHUTTERSTOCK (PIGLET);
IVAN VDOVIN / ALAMY (TIYIN COINS); SUSAN STOCKWELL 2010, PAPER CURRENCY, COTTON THREAD & STAND, LIFE SIZE.
In February 2015, SCUBA DIVERS
OFF ISRAEL FOUND OVER
A British artist
2,600 GOLD COINS made a dress
out of used
dating back as far as the
banknotes
9TH CENTURY. from around
the world.

Some people
think that
Canada’s $100
banknote gives off the
scent of maple syrup.

6 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 7
1
magnificent facts
about moons
Moonquakes
BY PAIGE TOWLER

occur on the
2 Earth’s moon.
More than
200 moons 3
are in our
solar system. NASA scientists
hope to send
astronauts to
the moon in 2025
to explore its
4 surface.
Scientists
think that gravity
might one day break
apart Mars’s 2
moons and form 5
Saturn-like rings
Neither
around the planet.
Venus nor
Mercury has
any moons.

6
The solar system’s 7
ALEXANDER RIEBER / EYEEM / GETTY IMAGES

One of
largest moon, Saturn’s moons,
Jupiter’s Ganymede, is one Enceladus, has 2
and a half times larger large geysers that spew
than Earth’s moon. water vapor and ice.
AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 7
 M. UNAL OZMEN / SHUTTERSTOCK, IMAGE DIGITALLY COMPOSED (ICE-CREAM CONE); TOM WANG /
GETTY IMAGES (CHILD EATING ICE CREAM); SOMPOCH TANGTHAI / SHUTTERSTOCK (SCOOPS)

8
F
WE
O
A
R

NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

L
I
L
C
S
E
C
C
R
R
E
E
A
BY JULIE BEER AND CHELSEA LIN

A
M
M .
 CHECK
OUT
THE
BOOK!

A CAFE NEW ZEALAND

IN ENGLAND CONSUMES
MADE ICE-CREAM THE MOST ICE
FLAVORS LIKE CREAM OF ANY
KETCHUP AND COUNTRY—
MUSHY PEAS. 6 GALLONS A
PERSON EACH
YEAR.

OVER 1,000
YEARS AGO,
CHINESE EMPERORS
MADE WHAT MIGHT
HAVE BEEN THE FIRST
DAIRY ICE CREAM
FROM COW,
GOAT, AND
BUFFALO
MILK.

AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 9

 White House Cat
Washington, D.C.
First Lady Jill Biden was giving a speech
when a gray fur ball jumped onto the
stage, interrupting her talk. But the
naughty cat didn’t get in trouble—in fact,
the first lady fell in love with the critter.
After the event, President Joe Biden
and his wife adopted the tabby and named
her Willow after the first lady’s hometown
of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Now the
feline lives in style at the White House
alongside a German shepherd named
Commander.
Willow is the first kitty to pounce, play,
and nap at the White House since 2009,
when former president George W. Bush’s
black cat, India, ruled the residence. But
the first presidential kitties belonged to
Abraham Lincoln—he even fed them off
golden White House forks. We hope Willow
laps up some presidential attention as well.
—Allyson Shaw
WILLOW
LOUNGES IN A
HALLWAY IN THE
PRESIDENT’S
RESIDENCE. MAYBE
THEY’LL BUILD
A MONUMENT
WASHINGTON
TO ME NEXT.
MONUMENT

THE KITTY
TAKES IN THE
VIEW OF THE
WASHINGTON
MONUMENT
FROM THE
WHITE HOUSE.

10 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 AHH ... I
FEEL MUCH
BETTER!

THIS CALF
IS ABOUT
THREE
OR FOUR
DAYS OLD.

Potty-Trained Cows
Dummerstorf, Germany
Moo-ve over, human toddlers—cows can
be potty-trained, too. A team of scientists
taught 16 calves how to use the “moo loo,”
a bathroom just for them.
“Cows don’t normally pay attention to
the bladder signal,” says behavioral scien-
tist Lindsay Matthews, who helped train
the cows. “But we taught them to attend
to that feeling and go to the bathroom.”
When the cows were ready to go, they
pushed open a door to a small room, then
let loose inside. After finishing their busi-
ness, they’d receive a treat, often made of
molasses or barley.
COWS
Dummerstorf,
Germany
CAT
Washington, D.C.
Most of these clever cows only needed
between 10 and 30 rewards before they
were totally potty-trained.
Cow urine contains nitrogen, which
becomes a heat-trapping gas when it
breaks down in the soil. So by teaching
cows to tinkle in a special spot, scientists
can capture and process the waste before
it enters the atmosphere and contributes
to climate change.
“The cows are willing participants in
the solution,” Matthews says. Who knew
cows could save the world?
—Cheryl Maguire
Comeback Critter:
Saiga Babies
Ustyurt Plateau, Kazakhstan
After giving birth to twin calves, the
mama saiga steps back, allowing her
babies to stand on their own. In just a
few hours, the youngsters will try to
take their first baby steps. These new-
borns were among thousands of other
saiga born last year. That’s important
because in 2019, scientists found only
four newborns on this plateau.
About 40 years ago, millions of
saiga—a type of antelope—roamed
across Europe and Asia. But after
decades of being hunted for their fur,
meat, and horns, the population
crashed. Then in 2015, a disease killed
more than 200,000 animals.
Conservationists pushed through
laws to prevent poaching and create
protected areas. The work paid off: Last
summer, scientists counted 842,000
saiga. That’s compared with just
334,000 animals three years ago.
“It was a record year,” saiga conser-
vationist Albert Salemgareyev says.
Good luck, baby saiga! —Cheryl Maguire

SAIGA
Ustyurt Plateau,
Check out more stories, tips, and
Kazakhstan crafts to help the planet!
natgeokids.com/planet

ERIN SCOTT / THE WHITE HOUSE VIA AP (WILLOW, BOTH); ORHAN CAM / SHUTTERSTOCK
(WHITE HOUSE); @ NORDLICHT / FBN (COW); ALBERT R. SALEMGAREYEV / ACBK (SAIGA)
AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 11
 OW TO
H
SPEAK Name-
Droppers

ANIMAL
Humans can’t carry on a
conversation underwater,
but bottlenose dolphins
definitely can. Typically
living in groups of up to
15 dolphins, they squeak,
Your guide to the secret language of eight critters whistle, click, and squawk.
“Dolphins need to com-
municate about many
BY JASON BITTEL
things,” says Kel Melillo
You might think a walk in nature is peaceful: no chatty TV Sweeting, a scientist
screens or pinging text messages! But if you know how to listen, studying animal behavior
you’ll discover that the animal kingdom is anything but quiet. with the Dolphin Commun-
Animals squeak, squawk, chatter, and hum. Some send sig- ication Project. “They
nals with smells or communicate with color. And they’ve got a ‘talk’ to keep track of
surprising amount to say. Read on to uncover eight secret codes individuals in the group,
of the animal kingdom. find food, discuss preda-
tors, establish and main-
tain relationships, and even
sort out disagreements.”
Even more amazing:
Some dolphins have signa-
ture whistles that these
animals might use like a
name. Researchers have
found that the dolphins
will often make up their
WHAT’S own whistle, and they’ll
YOUR mimic the special whistles
WHISTLE, of other dolphins. Perhaps
AGAIN? they’re calling out to a pal.

12 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 Hey!
you’re
IN my
Tone Tuners
spot! When different species of animals compete for space or food, they might
battle it out with claws and teeth. But golden-handed tamarins prefer to
talk to their rainforest neighbors, pied tamarins. Both are small monkeys
that like to nest in tree holes and eat similar foods, like fruit, flowers,
insects, and tree gum.
Researchers discovered that the golden-handed tamarins change
the tone of their calls to match the pied tamarins’ tone when
they’re nearby. “You can think of it like talking with a different
accent,” says biologist Jacob Dunn. It’s as if the golden-handed NA-na-na,
tamarin says “poh-TAY-toh” instead of “poh-TAH-toh.” That way, I can’t
when they say “Get out of my tree!” the pied tamarins will hear you.
understand them perfectly.
GOLDEN-HANDED “Animals want to avoid fighting if
TAMARIN
they can,” Dunn says. So by speaking
in the other animals’ accent, these
tamarins can be clearly under-
stood. Message received!

AMANDA COTTON / ALAMY (DOLPHINS); ONDREJ CHVATAL / SHUTTERSTOCK (GOLDEN-HANDED TAMARIN); ELVIS01 / SHUTTERSTOCK (PIED
TAMARIN); BONNIE OTT (MASKED BIRCH CATERPILLAR); SERGIO PITAMITZ / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (RHINOS)
Butt-Dialers RUMP

A human butt-dial is an
accidental phone call. But for
masked birch caterpillars,
butt-dials are the best way to PIED TAMARIN
reach out.
When the youngsters need to
build a safe hiding place, they make
little thumps to call others to come
help.(It takes many caterpillars to
spin enough silk for the shelter.)They
create these vibrations by rubbing
tiny hairs on their rumps against
Dung Decoders
birch leaves. If text messages were just smells, maybe the scent of buttery popcorn would mean
But you can’t eavesdrop on the “I’m at the movies!” Well, white rhinoceroses do add smelly messages on their group
hubbub: Scientists can only hear the chat: the dung pile. When a white rhino wants to know what’s going on in its neighbor-
drumming by using a special device hood, it walks over to the shared dung heap, which is called a midden, and takes a whiff.
called a laser vibrometer. “It’s neat to Different types of bacteria in rhinos’ poo give off different smells; the odors can tell
know that sometimes caterpillars are the sniffer about the age of the rhino that left it, and whether the animal is male or
‘chatting’ to each other on leaves, female. They can even learn which rhino is in charge.
even though you can’t hear them,” “White rhinos’ eyesight is poor, and their hearing is just fair,” ecolo-
zoologist Jayne Yack says. gist Courtney Marneweck says. “So their sense of smell is how they
Once the caterpillars have called ‘see’ their world.” Young rhinos might use that information to steer I just
over enough friends to build the for- clear of danger, and the dominant animals can learn the location got a
tress, scientists think they continue of potential mates. That’s nothing to sniff at! text.
drumming to communicate who’s
doing what to keep the shelter
strong. “It gets really noisy,” Yack says.
 OK, OK—
You wIn! And
don’t you
forget It! I FEEL
WHILE SCIENTISTS
STUDY THEM, A SNEEZE
THESE TWO MALE COMING
CHAMELEONS USE ON.
COLOR TO SIGNAL
WHO’S BOSS.

Color Changers
Some people blush when they’re embarrassed, but
human color changes can’t keep up with the skin displays
of chameleons. And though you might have heard the
color-changing ability is mainly for camouflage, reptile
expert Daniel Hughes says that’s a myth. Instead, it’s all
about chameleon-to-chameleon communication.
For example, male veiled chameleons switch from lime
green to a combo of tangerine and banana yellow when
they want to show another male who’s in charge. And when
a chameleon knows he’s lost, he’ll “turn off” his colors,
changing to a muted gray to call off the fight.
The cool color patterns come from tiny crystals in the
reptiles’ skin that allow them to adjust what kind of light is
reflected. “It’s a really complicated way of communicating,”
Hughes says.
Social Sneezers
How do you say “Let’s hunt!” in African wild dog? Achoo!
These animals are some of the most successful preda-
tors in Africa, thanks to their ability to work together.
But with up to 32 canines in a pack, the group members
need a way to get every dog to agree on what to do.
In a behavior called a rally, a hungry dog will A WILD DOG
(RIGHT) BEGS
try to get the other dogs excited for a hunt by FOR FOOD FROM
running around, wagging its tail, and touching AN OLDER
PACKMATE.
and sniffing the other animals’ bodies. Then
the dog will blow air out of its nostrils as if it’s
sneezing!
The more dogs that sneeze in agreement, the more
likely the group will go hunting. And if the dogs in
charge are sneezing, the pack will probably head off
sooner.(If they can’t agree, they might take a snooze in
the shade instead.) “It’s like if you see someone who
looks like they’re in charge doing something, you might
think, ‘Hey, maybe I should do what they’re doing,’” says
Dani Rabaiotti, an African wild dog researcher. Do you
agree—or is it just dusty in here?

Y’all
Walky Talkers sure that’s
the rIght
European bison let their big bodies do the talking. Standing taller than six way?
feet and weighing more than 2,000 pounds, they live in herds of up to 200
individuals. So how do the bison make group decisions on what to do next,
like whether to find a creek or head to a meadow?
According to scientists, bison decision-making is like a game of follow-
the-leader. First, one animal stands up and points its body in the
direction it wants to go, says animal behavior expert Cédric Sueur.
If other bison agree, they do the same. Eventually, one bison
takes a few steps—if it moves in the direction most are pointed
in, the group will follow. Although any bison can lead the charge,
the scientists found that older females usually set the course
for the group.

14 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 I’m the
log
ruler!

MOm says
Chatty you have
Squeakers to share!
When Kevin the Asian small-
clawed otter wants to share a
fish with his sister Rutabaga,
he makes a throaty, low-
pitched eeeeeee sound.
It’s one of at least 12 dif-
ferent vocalizations that
Asian small-clawed otters
make to communicate with
each other, says Olivia
Twyman, an animal keeper at
the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Zoo in Washington,
D.C. “The otters chirp, snort,
growl, cough, screech, and
scream,” Twyman says.
For instance, when an
otter gets separated and
wants to rejoin its family
group, it will make a rapid
wheeuk squeak. Sometimes
one group at the D.C. zoo
catches the scents or calls
from another group.(They’re
housed separately because
the species is super territo- ASIAN SMALL-
CLAWED OTTERS
rial.) When that happens, PLAY-FIGHT AT
both groups make a noisy A SANCTUARY
IN ENGLAND.
chatter that basically means
“Stay away from my yard!”

1 4 5

ANSWERS: 1. horse, 2. chimpanzee, 3. polar bear, 4. elephant, 5. wolf.

2 3
I’m You’re Back Let’s
Hello! scared! stressing off! play!
me out.

PLAY! Animals use body language to tell each other what they’re thinking. Match the thought above to each animal below.

RUSSEL LIGON (CHAMELEON CONTEST); CATHY KEIFER / GETTY IMAGES (CHAMELEON); ONDREJ PROSICKY / SHUTTERSTOCK (AFRICAN WILD
DOG); SAM DCRUZ / SHUTTERSTOCK (AFRICAN WILD DOG PAIR); GRZEGORZ LESNIEWSKI / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (BISON); NICK UPTON / NPL /

15
MINDEN PICTURES (OTTERS); ANDY ROUSE / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (CHIMP); WILD SPIRIT WOLF SANCTUARY (WOLF); YVA MOMATIUK AND JOHN
EASTCOTT / MINDEN PICTURES (ELEPHANT); BUFFY1982 / ADOBE STOCK (HORSE); MICHIO HOSHINO / MINDEN PICTURES (POLAR BEAR) AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS
C RITTER +

C HAT If animals were online,

yow

what would they say?

Read these just-for-fun
posts to find out.
BY ROSEMARY MOSCO

Too risky! Read my

review!
YiPadvisor
ANT “ROOM”

Ocean cruise on a lemon shark

Slender sharksucker

Like all sharksuckers, I travel in style. I’ve got a

natural suction cup on my head that helps me stick
to whales, sharks, rays, and more. So I get to relax Whistling
while my host carries me to new and exciting
places. thorn tree
Recently, I decided to take an ocean cruise on a Giraffe
lemon shark. At first, I was having tons of fun. My
shark ate a lot of prey, so I got to feed on plenty of ,,,,
leftovers. Usually When I first saw this tree,
sharks leave me I thought its leaves looked
alone to do my thing, Never tasty. I stretched my neck,
but this time another again! opened my mouth, stuck
lemon shark tried to out my long tongue, and … ow!
eat me! I think I’ll An ant bit me! This tree grows
stick with laid-back hollow bulbs that ants use
sea turtles on future as rooms to live in. The ants
vacations. get a home, and they protect

< <
the tree from harm. But I
don’t like it when my meal
bites back!

FOR MORE SHARK STATS, CHECK OUT

SHARKFEST ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.

16 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 +
Dolphinstagram harmony matches profile my photos

clouded_leopard

CHRISTINE SOHNS / MINDEN PICTURES (KOALA); LUCA SANTILLI / SHUTTERSTOCK (FLOWERS). © ANUP SHAH / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (LION, PAGES 18-19)
BEHIND TREE); PRAPASS / SHUTTERSTOCK (GIRAFFE, PROFILE); ROBERT WINSLOW / AGE FOTOSTOCK (TREE, CLOSEUP); JÜRGEN OTTO / SHUTTERSTOCK
CIGDEM COOPER / SHUTTERSTOCK (SHARKSUCKER); FRHOJDYSZ / DREAMSTIME (LEMON SHARK); PRZEMYSLAW SKIBINSKI / SHUTTERSTOCK (GIRAFFE
Southeast Asia

(PEACOCK SPIDER, BOTH); SELYUTINA OLGA / SHUTTERSTOCK (DISCO BALL); SYLVAIN CORDIER / GETTY IMAGES (CLOUDED LEOPARD); JUERGEN &
o n n ect
C me!
with

SparkleButt
ANIMAL Peacock spider
LIKES Crickets, hanging
out on the forest floor
DISLIKES Dance clubs
that won’t let spiders in

ABOUT ME If you’re look-

ing for a dance partner, I wanna
search no further. You’ll dance with
be wowed by my rainbow- some
127 likes
colored backside and the spider!
steps I use to show it off.
clouded_leopard Welcome to my catwalk: the forest! I I’ll flail my legs, tap on a twig, and sway back and forth. Just
bet you’ve never seen style like mine. I’m a tree climber, one request: Don’t be a hater. Some females will eat a male
and my cloudy spots help me hide among branches and for lunch if they don’t like his groove. I’d rather live to dance
leaves. You could say I’m sitting pretty. #WildStyleInspo another day.

WIN THE BOOK!

TRY ONLINE
JULY 6-13.
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.com/august
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My pal sent me this pretty bouquet of flowers for my

birthday. It was a nice gesture, but I only eat eucalyptus,
so I couldn’t chow down on most of these plants.
What am I supposed to do—just look at them?
Better shop
elsewhere. AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 17
 Female lions often do most of the hunting for the pride.

A lion cub can’t roar until it’s about two years old.

These big cats don’t chew—they gulp their meals in chunks.

Lions can communicate by swishing their tails.

Lions rest about 20 hours a day.

The Truth
Behind
AWESOME

3
2 DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS
See how these new flicks stack
R
up to reality.
BY STEPHANIE WARREN DR
IMME
»

»
When a team of human superheroes is kidnapped, PB the potbellied pig has the In the movie, Merton the
Superman’s dog, Krypto, assembles a group of shelter power to change size. She can turtle can move at super
pets with superpowers to rescue them. “Like his owner, make herself as small as an ant speeds. Real-life turtles are
Krypto’s got some cool powers: He can fly, he’s got super- or as big as an elephant. Real-life pretty slow on land, but
strength, and he’s as fast as a speeding train,” director potbellied pigs change sizes many species move quickly
Jared Stern says. A real dog breed called the Rhodesian pretty quickly, too. At birth, they in water. The leatherback
ridgeback helped inspire Krypto’s look and behavior. can weigh less than a pound. But sea turtle can swim up
These dogs don’t have superpowers, but they’re known two years later, they can weigh to 22 miles an hour, a bit
for their speed and endurance: They could keep up with more than 200 pounds. That’s as slower than a car driving
a running horse! much as some refrigerators! on neighborhood streets.

CHIP THE SQUIRREL,

PB THE POTBELLIED
PIG, DOGS KRYPTO AND
ACE, AND MERTON THE
TURTLE TEAM UP.
 1 LIGHTYEAR
» Before he inspired a superconfident toy in the
Toy Story series, this movie’s Buzz Lightyear
was a space ranger. “That’s movie-speak for
‘astronaut,’” director Angus MacLane says.
In Lightyear, Buzz uses a special fuel called a
hyperspeed crystal to fly his spacecraft hun-
dreds of millions of miles a second. Real space-
craft can reach speeds of only about a hundred
miles a second.

» During a mission, Buzz gets stuck on a planet

called T’Kani Prime, where the sun never sets.
Earth has night and day because it spins while
orbiting around our sun; but some real planets—
like the made-up T’Kani Prime—are “locked,”
with one side always facing the star they move
around. That means one half of the planet is
forever in daylight, and the other is in darkness.

BUZZ AND
HIS ROBOT
SIDEKICK, SOX,
PREPARE FOR
» “Buzz travels with a cute cat robot called Sox,”
MacLane says. Real-life astronauts have robotic
companions in space, too: On the International
TAKEOFF.
BUZZ TRAVELS
Space Station, flying bots called Astrobees help
AT HYPERSPEED. document experiments and move cargo.

MORE MOVIE SCOOP! Go online to check out more

photos from Lightyear. natgeokids.com/lightyear

A T. REX SURPRISES
THE AUDIENCE AT

JURASSIC
A DRIVE-IN MOVIE
3 THEATER.

WORLD:
DOMINION
»

In the movie, T. rex goes head-to-
head with another enormous
predator named Giganotosaurus.
These dinosaurs never would’ve
met in real life, though: “They lived
on separate continents, about 30
million years apart,” says pale-
ontologist Steve Brusatte, who
served as the movie’s scientific
adviser.
The massive Therizinosaurus—which
could weigh 11,000 pounds—stalks
movie character Claire through a dark
forest. In real life, Therizinosaurus was
indeed a scary-looking dinosaur, with
claws as long as baseball bats and a
huge belly. But it probably wasn’t
a predator—it was likely a peaceful
plant-eater that used its knifelike
claws to pull down leaves from trees.
In one scene, an Oviraptor steals eggs from
another species’ nest. In real life, Oviraptor
did have a reputation for stealing eggs: When
scientists found the first fossil in the 1920s, it
was atop a nest of what they thought were
Protoceratops eggs. Scientists therefore
figured Oviraptor was robbing the nest. Later,
they discovered those eggs actually belonged
to Oviraptor; now experts say these dinosaurs
probably were caring parents—not thieves.

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY IS MAJORITY OWNER OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS. © 2022 DISNEY / PIXAR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (LIGHTYEAR,
BOTH); © WARNER BROS. PICTURES (DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS); © 2022 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION) AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 21
 How kind humans nursed this
prickly creature back to health
BY ALLYSON SHAW
A North American porcupine huddles in the stairwell of a parking garage in
Winchester, Virginia. The youngster is sick, exhausted, and missing a patch of
quills on his back. Far from his forest home, the confused porcupine must have
crawled into the building in search of shelter. Eventually, a surprised maintenance
worker stumbles on the critter and quickly calls the local police.

CAR CHASE hundred years ago. Conservationists

“I thought for sure the worker had seen have been glad to see them slowly
a raccoon because I’d never heard of a moving back to their historic range
porcupine in our area,” police officer over the past 30 years. But a parking
Felicia Marshall says. These animals were lot is no place for a porcupine.
once considered pests and had been Using a long pole with a loop around
wiped out from Virginia more than a the end, Marshall chases the 10-pound
male as he scurries around and
under parked cars for about
15 minutes. “Whenever I was
thIs Is able to get close enough to put porcupine had
a weIrd
dream. the catch pole around him, he been in a tussle
would use his paws and break with another
free,” she says. “And all the while animal.
he made these huffing sounds, They also see
like he was annoyed that I was he’s breathing
chasing him.” heavily and has
ticks on his face.
PRICKLY PATIENT “When animals
Eventually, Marshall captures feel sick, they’re
the animal and drives him to less likely to
the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center. groom them-
There, the veterinary team selves and get those AFTER FILLING
UP ON TWIGS,
gives the porcupine a full check- ticks off,” Riley says. THE PORCUPINE
up: While a worker holds the After plucking off the IS TOO STUFFED
FOR LETTUCE.
prickly animal with leather bloodsuckers, the team
gloves, head veterinarian Jen takes x-rays of the
Riley carefully feels patient. “With porcupines, it’s important
VET JEN RILEY around for injuries. to use the x-ray because it’s hard to feel
LISTENS TO THE From the missing everything around those quills.”
PORCUPINE’S
LUNGS WITH A quills, they guess From those scans, Riley sees that the
STETHOSCOPE.
that the year-old animal has a lung infection—without

22 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022 COURTESY OF BLUE RIDGE WILDLIFE CENTER (ALL)
 The
scientific name
for porcupine
means
“quill pig.”

A porcupine
has about
30,000 quills.

During
the day, baby
porcupines stay
hidden on the ground
while Mom sleeps
in the trees.

THE HEALTHY
PORCUPINE IS
RELEASED IN A
WOODED AREA
OF FREDERICK
COUNTY,
VIRGINIA.

care, this little porcupine might
not survive.
BEDDING AND
BREAKFAST
The team places the porcupine in
his own room at the wildlife center:
Porcupines are nocturnal, so they don’t
want to disturb his rest during the day.
His cage is filled with soft towels, comfy
blankets, and lots of twigs and leaves.
Each day, the workers mix a little cherry-
flavored medicine into a few teaspoons
of baby food made of pumpkin, apples, or
squash.(The medicine is meant for kids,
but the veterinarian approves it for the
porcupine, too.)
At first, the porcupine sits hunched
in the corner, and he wants to eat only
the supersweet baby food. But as the
medicine starts to work, he begins
eating normal porcupine chow: leaves,
twigs, and branches that the rescue
workers clip from oak and maple trees
behind the center. “Each evening we’d
fill his whole cage with twigs and
branches—you could barely see him!”
Riley says. “Then the next morning, it’d
all be picked apart and we’d have to go
out and do it again.”
After 10 days, the caretakers can
see that the porcupine is breathing
easier and moving around his cage. His
eyes are bright and alert. It’s time to
release him back into the wild.
The team carries the porcupine in
a pet carrier to a patch of woods. As
soon as they open the door, the animal
scurries straight up a tree.
“They feel safe up in the
trees—they can get a good THE PORCUPINE
look around,” Riley says. “It’s SCAMPERS UP
like he went up there to A TREE SOON
AFTER HIS
check out his new home.” RELEASE.
 1 Rocks are made up of a 2 Scientists study how lava flows 3
The moon is made
mix of minerals. by melting billion-year-old mostly ofrock.
basalt rock.

5 VON DER
DECKEN’S
Tall, skinny SIFAKAS

limestone
structures in
Madagascar’s
4
Found in South Africa, Tsingy de
the oldest known Bemaraha

emeralds, National Park

provide homes
a mineral, are almost for animal
3 billion years old. species found
nowhere else
in the world.

30COOL RO 6
Crystals can be
7 Natural ice formations, such as
icebergs and icicles,
THINGS
ABOUT
8
Some 13th-century eyeglasses
as large as a are minerals. used tiny
tree trunk or so bits of
WORLD / ADOBE STOCK (4); STEPHEN ALVAREZ / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (5); CARSTEN PETER / SPELEO-
RESEARCH & FILMS / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (6); ROBERT / ADOBE STOCK (7); PI-LENS / SHUTTERSTOCK
D GUEST SMITH / SHUTTERSTOCK (1); RALF LEHMANN / SHUTTERSTOCK (2); JACKSON PEARSON / ADOBE STOCK (3); PHOTO-

tiny that the minerals the mineral

are only visible aquamarine
through a for the
microscope. lenses.
(8); MIKEUK / ISTOCK PHOTO (10); SUNCHAN / GETTY IMAGES (13); V&G STUDIO / GETTY IMAGES (14)

9 10 11 12
Obsidian can be so sharp
Our planet A professional
Called fool’s gold, that doctors have used the
rocks as blades during
contains over rock
a mineral called pyrite is surgery. 5,000 expert
often mistaken for gold. known is called a
minerals. petrologist.

13 14 Alexandrite, one of
Tourmaline
the rarest gems in
minerals with
the world, changes
green edges
color depending on
and pink centers
whether the mineral is
are called
viewed in sunlight or
watermelons.
indoor light.
SUNLIGHT INDOOR LIGHT

24 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

15 In India, thin sheets called varak 16 17
are made from the mineral
silver to decorate A form of the
desserts. mineral copper
turns some
octopus
blood blue.
STALACTITES

19 20
The mummified The inside of a
18 remains of a 5,300- geode rock discovered
year-old man— in Brazil looks just like
and his rock tools—
In the 5th century, Mongolian warriors were found preserved
Cookie Monster.
Some stalactite
created flaming arrows by in ice on the border mineral
formations

ADOBE STOCK (26); EYEEM / ALAMY (27); SURONIN / SHUTTERSTOCK (28); MACKENZIE BROCKMAN / CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY (29); PHOTASTIC / SHUTTERSTOCK (30)
dipping them in oil from shale rocks, between Austria

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION (19); KENNEDY NEWS & MEDIA (20); MAYBEIII / ADOBE STOCK (21); PHOTOROMAN / SHUTTERSTOCK (22); BJÖRN WYLEZICH /
then lighting them on fire. and Italy. have been
growing in

DINODIA PHOTOS / ALAMY (15); BORIS PAMIKOV / SHUTTERSTOCK (16); SERGEY CHERNYAEV / ADOBE STOCK (17); PDQ1000 / GETTY IMAGES (18); ROBERT CLARK /
caves for nearly
200,000

OCKSMINERALS AND years!

BY MICHAEL BURGAN
21 22 According to 23
Chalk used legend, the giant In Bolivia, some
to come from a rock called, rock formations people make a
uh, chalk, but today most of it of Ha Long Bay in soup called
comes from the mineral gypsum. Vietnam were kalapurka
created by on hot
24 25 dragons to volcanic
About 10,000 The softest keep out invaders. rock.
years ago, some mineral in the
55 billion tons of world is talc. 26 27
rock created a You can If you heat a
9-mile landslide crumble it diamond to A rock formation in North America
in what is now Iran. with your fingers! 1405°F, called the Canadian Shield has
the mineral will granite that’s believed to be part of
vaporize. Earth’s original crust.
28 Different layers of sandstone
mountains in China’s Zhangye
Danxia Geological Park show off
29 A man in Michigan 30 One pencil has
rainbow-like colors. used a rock as a CHECK
enough of the
doorstop—until he OUT
mineral graphite THE
learned it was a to draw a line BOOK!
meteorite rock
35 miles
worth $100,000!
long.
Hamsters
Farmers try to
make peace with
these pesky critters.
BY KATE JAIMET
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIC BACCEGA
In a sun-dappled wheat field in France, a
prowling barn cat meets a black-bellied
hamster. Too far from her burrow to run
for shelter, the wild hamster rises on her
hind legs to face her enemy.
She puffs out her cheeks, flashes her
black underbelly, growls, and bares her
teeth. The cat backs away. This black-
bellied hamster is one tough rodent.
“They’re afraid of nothing,” says
Alexandre Lehmann, a biologist who has
worked with these wild hamsters for
over a decade. “They fight against cars,
dogs, and even farmers. They try to fight
against tractors. The Germans call them
small bears.”
Good thing the black-bellied hamster
won’t go down without a fight. Because
in France, where fewer than a thousand
remain in the wild, these critters are in
a fight for their lives.
During
hibernation, a
hamster’s heart
The earliest beats only about
hamsters lived six times a
more than 2.5 minute.
million years
ago.

PLAY A GAME! Go online to help a hamster

scale obstacles and answer trivia questions.
natgeokids.com/august

26 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 HAMSTER
BURROW
ENTRANCE
FEISTY RODENTS
Don’t confuse the black-bellied
hamster with its puny tame rela-
tive, the golden hamster. At about 12
inches long, the black-bellied hamster
is twice as big. And it’s way more feisty.
“They’re very pretty, with reddish brown,
white, and black markings,” says Bruno
Ulrich, former vice president of the Group
for the Protection and Study of the Mam-
mals of Alsace, in France. “But they’re not
kept as pets because, frankly, these ham-
sters aren’t very friendly.”
Ranging from the eastern steppes of Rus-
sia to the plains of Alsace in France, black-
bellied hamsters have long been seen as
pests, chowing down on farmers’ grains,
beets, and cabbage. And because mother
hamsters can give birth to as many as 14
babies a year, sometimes the population
exploded. Humans tried everything to get
rid of them. Some farm-
ers remember a time
when, as kids, they
were paid to kill
hamsters and
bring their
tails to city
hall.
TWO-DAY-OLD
HAMSTERS
A HAMSTER
FOLLOWS
A TUNNEL
INSIDE ITS
BURROW TO
A NEST.
A HAMSTER
PEEKS OUT
FROM ITS
BURROW. NEST
But a few decades ago, naturalists noticed
that the rodents were in trouble. Although
plenty of hamsters were still in Russia and
Ukraine, their numbers had been dwindling
in western Europe. A movement began to a field with lots of leafy hiding places. That’s
save the black-bellied hamsters. In 1993, a problem in Alsace, where most farmers
France passed a law protecting them as an plant corn. When hamsters come out of the
endangered species in that country. winter burrows from hibertation, the corn
hasn’t sprouted yet. The bare fields make the
HELPING HANDS hamsters easy targets for many predators.
At the Stork and Otter Reintroduction Some farmers don’t want hamsters on
Center in Alsace, Lehmann and his colleagues their property because of their reputation
breed captive hamsters and release their as crop-chewing pests. But most are willing
pups into the wild. But breeding black-bellied to help. The French government pays them
hamsters isn’t exactly easy. These critters to grow early-sprouting crops such as alfalfa
have attitude. Forget humans—they and winter wheat and release hamsters on
don’t even like each other. “You have their lands. It’s a way to protect not just the
to make sure the male and female hamsters, but also other small animals that
don’t kill each other,” Lehmann says. thrive in a landscape of leafy fields.
If all goes well, a mother hamster “Protecting the hamster means protecting
will give birth to a litter of about the hares, the larks, and even the insects that
seven pups in three weeks. One live in hamster burrows,” Ulrich says.
year later, the pups will be ready for Sounds like this “bad” beast is up to some
release into the wild.
good after all.

GROWING HABITAT
Black-bellied hamsters might think of
themselves as tough. But to a fox or an
eagle, they’re just a four-legged snack. To RESEARCHERS
USE RADIO-
survive, hamsters need to be released into TRACKING

FUN PETS
DEVICES TO
MONITOR
DWA HAMSTERS’
RF H
AMS SUCCESS IN
TER THE WILD.
Black-bellied hamsters are wild animals,
but golden and dwarf hamsters can make CAPTIVE-BRED
HAMSTERS
great pets for families with older kids. ARE READY FOR
RELEASE INTO
Here are some handy tips. THE WILD.

1 2 3
Hamsters are Golden hamsters Hamsters’ teeth
active at night and attack each other never stop growing.
sleep during the if they’re kept Let your pet hamster
day. If you wake a together. Always chew on a twig or dog
napping hamster, keep them in biscuit to grind its
it might bite. separate cages. teeth down.

© REDMOND DURRELL / ALAMY (DWARF HAMSTER)

 GAMES,
LAUGHS,
AND LOTS
TO DO!

STUFF
PLAY!

CAMPGROUND CHAOS
Raccoons have overrun the Summertime Sleepaway Campsite at
sunset for some lighthearted playtime. Look past the sidesplitting fun
to find 20 compound words—a word made of two words put together.
Read a word on the list below, then find a picture in the scene that
completes the compound word.(The first one has been done for you.)
1 __________stand
band 8 scare__________ 15 egg____________
2 pop___________ 9 leap___________ 16 wind___________
3 cart___________ 10 ___________site 17 ____________tub
4 __________worm 11 rattle__________ 18 honey__________
5 sun___________ 12 sweet__________ 19 space__________
6 finger_________ 13 ___________gaze 20 ___________cake
7 __________wood 14 sand ___________ ANSWERS ON PAGE 31

BONUS: How many compound words can you find

in the first paragraph above?

28 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022 JAMES YAMASAKI (ART); RUTH A. MUSGRAVE (CONCEPT)
AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 29
 FIND THE
HIDDEN
Animals often blend in with
ANIMALS
their environment to hide.
Find each animal listed below
A
in the pictures, then write the
letter of the correct photo
next to each animal’s name.
ANSWERS ON PAGE 31

1. snowshoe hare __
2. gray seal __
3. modest forest dragon __
4. emperor shrimp __
5. northern leaf-tailed gecko __
6. eastern screech owl __
7. Vietnamese mossy frog __

D E
GETTLE / MINDEN PICTURES (D); PIOTR NASKRECKI / MINDEN PICTURES (E); CHRIS NEWBERT / MINDEN PICTURES (F); MARTIN WILLIS / MINDEN PICTURES (G)
NIALL BENVIE / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (A); DONALD M. JONES / MINDEN PICTURES (B); © EMANUELE BIGGI / FLPA / MINDEN PICTURES (C); STEVE

30 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 31 AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS
Answers
“Campground Chaos” (pages 28-29):
1. band, 2. corn, 3. wheel, 4. book, 5. flower,
6. nail, 7. fire, 8. crow, 9. frog, 10. web, 11. snake,
12. heart, 13. star, 14. castle, 15. shell, 16. sock,
17. bath, 18. comb, 19. ship, 20. cup. Bonus: 8.
8
19
15 7
2
13
12
17 16
10
3 1
6
20 18
9 5 4
14
11
“Find the Hidden Animals” (this page):
1. B, 2. A, 3. E, 4. F, 5. G, 6. D, 7. C.
G F
C B
 1

2 3

5
4

32 NAT GEO KIDS • AUGUST 2022

 6 7

9
8 10

11

AUGUST 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS 33

 Check out how Nat Geo Kids readers
responded to this poll, then go online
to vote in the next one!
natgeokids.com/whatchathink

14%
TENNIS

23% Which
BASEBALL L
OR SOFTBAL
sport do you
most like to
play?

29%
SOCCER
GETTY IMAGES (TENNIS); MUZSY / SHUTTERSTOCK (SOCCER); 2DESIGN / ADOBE
YOSHIYOSHI HIROKAWA / GETTY IMAGES (BASEBALL); VISUAL ART AGENCY /

STOCK (BASKETBALL); © ST. PETERSBURG TIMES / ZUMA WIRE (KICKBALL)

24% 10%
KICKBALL
BASKETBALL

34
 PLAY MORE FUNNY FILL-IN!
natgeokids.com/ffi

DINING WITH
DINOSAURS
BY EMILY KRIEGER
Ask a friend to give
you words to fill in the
blanks in this story
without showing it to
him or her. Then read
out loud for a laugh.

Having dinner with dinosaurs is a really big deal. and I were invited to eat at the home of a(n)
friend’s name
named with her two dinosaur friends. She’s much bigger than
type of dinosaur female celebrity
a(n) and a better cook, too. Dinner was a heaping portion of barbecued
mythical creature something gross, plural
with a side of steamed . We sat atop the chef’s pet, a(n) . I started to
type of seafood, plural animal
take a bite of my meal, but a(n) suddenly
color same type of seafood past-tense verb
across the table! Surprised, I jumped back from the food, everywhere.
verb ending in -ing liquid
“ !” roared the chef as she dropped the she was holding. Barbecue
silly expression noun
sauce splashed everywhere—including on the pet. I think I’ll skip dessert.
DAN SIPPLE

35
 Swim straight for these amazing books! Everyone knows that sharks are
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read all about these sleek and stealthy powerhouse predators!

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